 and the scrapping of his own ten-point plan to tackle immigration. This last issue is one that isn't going to disappear any time soon, and contrary to traditional assumptions, it is not one that is currently benefiting the Conservative Party. The most recent Redfield & Wilton poll suggests that voters prefer Labour to Conservative policy on immigration, by 37 to 17 per cent. That 20-point gap risks obscuring the fact that voters don't seem particularly enthusiastic about either party's approach. But it should be enough to shake the complacency out of any Tory MP who assumes that unhappiness with current levels of immigration will automatically translate into political support for their party. Sunak has only been in office for a couple of weeks (a remarkably long period by modern standards) so it would be unfair to start calling him out on immigration before he's had a chance to get his legs under the cabinet table. But among the many pressing problems he has to deal with, it is immigration that threatens to derail his Government before it even leaves the station. The Rwanda scheme is still Government policy, according to the Home Secretary, but not a single illegal migrant has yet taken that one-way flight to Africa and there are many who believe the policy will yet be shelved before anyone does. Sunak himself has admitted that 'not enough' asylum applications are being processed — certainly not enough to keep up with the influx from Dover as tens of thousands flout the law to get here. The Prime Minister needs to be careful. By talking about the process rate of asylum applications, he is conceding to Labour's nar){kind=link}
Labour are trying to turn the current migrant crisis into a story about administrative failings. If they succeed, the Tories are sunk
In the same way that police officers appear to get younger over time, prime ministers’ honeymoon periods now appear to be shrinking to the point of non-existence.
So far this week we’ve had Rishi Sunak’s U-turn on his attendance at the Cop 27 climate conference, the admission that all of his leadership campaign promises are “on the table” (or under review) and the scrapping of his own ten-point plan to tackle immigration.
This last issue is one that isn’t going to disappear any time soon, and contrary to traditional assumptions, it is not one that is currently benefiting the Conservative Party. The most recent Redfield & Wilton poll suggests that voters prefer Labour to Conservative policy on immigration, by 37 to 17 per cent. That 20-point gap risks obscuring the fact that voters don’t seem particularly enthusiastic about either party’s approach. But it should be enough to shake the complacency out of any Tory MP who assumes that unhappiness with current levels of immigration will automatically translate into political support for their party.
Sunak has only been in office for a couple of weeks (a remarkably long period by modern standards) so it would be unfair to start calling him out on immigration before he’s had a chance to get his legs under the cabinet table. But among the many pressing problems he has to deal with, it is immigration that threatens to derail his Government before it even leaves the station.