A former Tory leader has launched an outspoken attack on Rishi Sunak’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Ruth Davidson, who led the Scottish Conservatives between 2011 and 2019, said “there are dogs in the street that know it’s probably never going to happen”.
And she said that even if deportation flights do take off, it will make “very little difference” to the overall levels of illegal immigration.
Her comments came after the prime minister saw off a Tory rebellion to secure the House of Commons’ backing for his Safety of Rwanda Bill.
Sunak says the bill will finally see deportation flights to the east African country take off - and has called on the House of Lords not to block it.
But appearing on the Today programme podcast, Davidson - who is now a Conservative peer - poured cold water on the policy.
She said: “This thing about putting people on planes to Rwanda - I mean, there are dogs in the street that know it’s probably never going to happen, and if it does, it’s going to be in numbers so small that it makes very little difference to the bottom line.”
Sunak yesterday refused to guarantee that any flights to Rwanda will take off this year.
He would only say that it would happen “as soon as practically possible”.
Davidson also called for more “balance” in the immigration debate.
She said: “Let’s have a debate about immigration, absolutely. Every sovereign nation should be in charge of who comes in; not everybody has a right to go to every country in the world – I completely get all of that.
“But where is the balance in this, rather than some of the language that is being used, some of the knots that people are getting into?”