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Sunak Emphasizes Britain’s Anti-Racist Values

Calling any form of racism “simply unacceptable”, he also mentioned Britain’s reputation among global leaders as a model for racial harmony and equality…reports Asian Lite News

UK’s first Indian-origin PM Rishi Sunak shared his experiences of facing racism as a child, saying his parents sent him for extra drama lessons so that he could “speak properly” without an accent to fit into society.

In an interview with Anushka Asthana of ITV News, Sunak recalled the pain of hearing slurs directed at his younger siblings, adding that racism “stings” and “hurts in a way that other things don’t”, The Guardian reported.

“You are conscious of being different… It’s hard not to be, right, and obviously, I experienced racism as a kid,” he told Asthana who detailed her encounter with the Prime Minister in The Times.

The PM also spoke about the “sting” of racism in July last year when he made a special appearance at the England versus Australia Ashes Test match at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

Born in Southampton in a Hindu Punjabi family that had migrated from East Africa, the 43-year-old leader said his parents, his mother in particular, were keen for him and his siblings to “fit in and not for it to be, in any way, shape or form, a barrier”.

“One of the things my mum was obsessed with was that we didn’t speak with accents and we would speak properly,” he said. “So she was keen for us to try to do some extra drama.”

Calling any form of racism “simply unacceptable”, he also mentioned Britain’s reputation among global leaders as a model for racial harmony and equality.

Addressing his first Conservative Party conference as party leader in Manchester in October 2023, Sunak, using his example as proof, said that the UK is not a racist country and that his skin colour is not a “big deal” in the country.

Sunak admitted while speaking to Asthana that he never expected to see an individual from the ethnic minority community becoming Britain’s prime minister one day “because you didn’t have role models like that… hadn’t happened yet”.

From lighting diyas on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Diwali to praying at Hindu temples, the Southampton-born leader has shown that he is proud of his Indian roots and Hindu faith, which he says “guides him in every aspect of his life”.

Attending a ‘Ram Katha’ ceremony at the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College last year, Sunak said: “Being Prime Minister is a great honour, but it is not an easy job. There are difficult decisions to make, hard choices to confront and our faith gives me courage, strength, and resilience to do the best that I can for our country”.

ALSO READ-Indian-Americans Urge Focus on Economy, Security in US Elections

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Sunak suffers defeat in vote to delay Rwanda asylum treaty

The government passed the Rwanda legislation in the House of Commons last week after days of debate that showed deep divisions in the governing Conservative Party…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a setback to his plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament’s upper house backed a largely symbolic motion to delay ratification of a treaty aimed at overcoming a legal block.

Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on England’s southern coast in small, inflatable boats would be sent to Rwanda.

In an effort to overcome resistance from the courts who have ruled the plan is unlawful, Britain signed a treaty last year with Rwanda, in which it agreed to address safety concerns, and the government is trying to pass legislation through parliament that would block legal challenges to deportations.

Although ministers could take steps to ignore the motion, lawmakers in the House of Lords backed it 214 votes to 171, providing the first public indication of the scale of opposition to the government’s new legislation in the upper chamber.

Peter Goldsmith, an attorney general under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who laid the motion, said before the vote it was the first time that lawmakers in the Lords had used parliamentary powers to vote to halt the ratification of a treaty.

Sunak has said he wants the first deportation flights to leave in the next few months — ahead of a general election expected in the second half of this year — so he can meet one of his five pledges to “stop the boats.”

The government passed the Rwanda legislation in the House of Commons last week after days of debate that showed deep divisions in the governing Conservative Party.

The level of opposition in the House of Lords is expected to debate the bill for the first time at the end of January with crunch votes likely to come in March.

The Lords are likely to add make amendments to the legislation and could in extreme circumstances delay the bill for a year, which would mean it could not be passed until after the next election.

The prime minister says the law is essential to deter migrants from considering traveling to the UK via unauthorized routes.

Around 30,000 asylum seekers crossed the English Channel on rudimentary vessels last year. Five died trying to make the journey this past weekend.

Sunak has yet to announce the date of the UK’s general election but has said it will be held this year.

Some opinion polls put Labour more than 20 points ahead of the Tories, suggesting the ruling party is heading for a landslide defeat.

ALSO READ-UK Lawmakers Pass Rwanda Bill as Part of Immigration Plan

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Rwanda Plan to Torpedo Rishi

Parliament launched two days of debate about the scheme — a central part of Sunak’s pledge to stop asylum seekers crossing from France to Britain in small boats…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak battled Tuesday to quell growing dissent over his controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, testing his authority with a general election on the horizon.

Parliament launched two days of debate about the scheme — a central part of Sunak’s pledge to stop asylum seekers crossing from France to Britain in small boats.

The Conservative prime minister has staked his political future on slashing record levels of regular and irregular migration, with his Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill key to that pledge.

But the proposal has reopened divisions in his ruling Tory party between right-wingers and centrists, leaving Sunak between a rock and a hard place as he fights to turn it into law.

The plan is his answer to a unanimous UK Supreme Court ruling in November that deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is illegal under international law.

If passed, it would compel judges to treat Rwanda as a safe third country and proposes giving UK ministers powers to disregard sections of international and British human rights legislation.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reiterated this week that the bill and a recently signed treaty with Kigali designating Rwanda “safe” were “not compatible” with international refugee law.

More than 60 MPs have publicly backed amendments to make the bill even tougher though, including by disapplying international law and restricting asylum seekers’ rights to appeal against deportation.

They include two Tory deputy chairmen, testing Sunak’s leadership mettle amid calls for the pair to be dismissed, in infighting not seen since the wranglings over Brexit.

Ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, who introduced the Rwanda scheme when he was in office, has also backed the amendments, although he is no longer an MP and cannot vote.

If Sunak bows to the rebels’ demands, then the bill would almost certainly be scuppered by moderates, who oppose violating international law and say the legislation already pushes the limits.

In a bid to appease MPs who fear that individual appeals against deportation to Rwanda could clog the courts, Sunak’s government announced Tuesday that it would hire new judges to fast-track cases.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the changes would create 5,000 additional sitting days to hear appeals. A spokesman for Sunak said the move showed that the government was “taking every conceivable step to ensure” that flights to Kigali could take off.

But several right-wing MPs told the House of Commons debate that Sunak’s bill does not go far enough. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who quit in protest at the bill in December, said the amendments “represent the last opportunity for us to get this policy right”.

The amendments are unlikely to be passed but will provide clues as to whether Sunak is in danger of losing a main vote on his bill expected on Wednesday night. His spokesman told reporters that discussions with lawmakers were “still ongoing”.

Party rebels had threatened to kill the Rwanda legislation during the first vote on the issue last month but Sunak faced them down and won a knife-edge parliamentary vote.

The rebels may ultimately decide it is better to back their leader, rather then side with the main opposition Labour party, which calls the plan a “gimmick”. The prime minister says the law is essential to deter migrants from considering travelling to the UK via unauthorised routes.

Around 30,000 asylum seekers crossed the English Channel on rudimentary vessels last year. Five died trying to make the journey this past weekend. Sunak has yet to announce the date of the UK’s general election but has said it will be held this year.

Some opinion polls put Labour more than 20 points ahead of the Tories, suggesting the ruling party is heading for a landslide defeat.

ALSO READ-Around 3.5 mn overseas British citizens now eligible to vote

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Sunak to face lawmakers over decision on Houthis

The smaller opposition Liberal Democrats accused the government of “riding roughshod over a democratic convention” that Parliament should get a vote on military action…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was due to face Parliament Monday to explain why the UK joined the US in striking Houthi targets in Yemen — and why British lawmakers did not get a say on the military action.

Four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets took part in last week’s US-led strikes on sites used by the Iran-backed rebels, who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea. The US says Friday’s strikes hit Houthi weapons depots, radar facilities and command centres.

The Houthis say they have targeted ships linked to Israel in response to the war in Gaza. But they have frequently attacked vessels with no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade.

US forces carried out another strike Saturday on a Houthi radar site.

Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, said he supported last week’s strikes but expects more openness from the government in future.

 “If the government is proposing further action, then it should say so and set out the case, and we’re going to have to consider that on a case-by-case basis on the merits,” he said.

The smaller opposition Liberal Democrats accused the government of “riding roughshod over a democratic convention” that Parliament should get a vote on military action.

 “For Rishi Sunak to attempt to ignore elected representatives is disgraceful,” Liberal Democrat defense spokesman Richard Foord said.

Sunak’s government is facing mounting demands on Britain’s ever-shrinking military in an increasingly volatile world. Hours after the strikes on the Houthis, Sunak was in Kyiv, where he announced a further 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine and signed a long-term security agreement with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sunak — whose Conservative Party trails Labour in opinion polls ahead of an election due this year — also is struggling to revive his stalled plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

The Rwanda plan is an expensive, highly controversial policy that hasn’t sent a single person to the East African country so far. But it has become a totemic issue for Sunak, central to his pledge to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorised migrants to the UK across the English Channel from France.

More than 29,000 people made the perilous journey in 2023. Five people died on the weekend while trying to launch a boat from northern France in the dark and winter cold.

London and Kigali made a deal almost two years ago under which migrants who reach Britain across the Channel would be sent to Rwanda, where they would stay permanently.

The plan has been criticised as inhumane and unworkable by human rights groups and challenged in British courts. In November the UK Supreme Court ruled the policy is illegal because Rwanda isn’t a safe country for refugees.

In response to the court ruling, Britain and Rwanda signed a treaty pledging to strengthen protections for migrants. Sunak’s government argues that the treaty allows it to pass a law declaring Rwanda a safe destination.

If approved by Parliament, the law would allow the government to “disapply” sections of UK human rights law when it comes to Rwanda-related asylum claims and make it harder to challenge the deportations in court.

But the bill faces criticism both from Conservative centrists who think it flirts with breaking international law, and from lawmakers on the party’s authoritarian right, who say it doesn’t go far enough because it leaves some legal routes for migrants to challenge deportation.

Both sides say they will try to amend the bill during two days of debate in the House of Commons culminating in a vote on Wednesday.

Sunak said Monday he was “confident that the bill we have got is the toughest that anyone has ever seen and it will resolve this issue once and for all”.

ALSO READ-Airstrikes against Houthis, act of self-defence, says Sunak  

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Sunak hopeful on conclusion of India-UK FTA

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Rishi Sunak agreed on the need for the two nations to work together in trade, defence and technology sectors…reports Asian Lite News

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called on UK Prime Minister Rajnath Singh at 10, Downing Street in London on Wednesday. During the meeting, Sunak expressed hope that the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could be brought to a successful conclusion soon.

Rajnath Singh and Rishi Sunak agreed on the need for the two nations to work together in trade, defence and technology sectors, Ministry of Defence said in a press release. He expressed the keenness of the UK government to strengthen defence and security pillars of the bilateral partnership.

Notably, India and the UK are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Talks for FTA between India and the UK started in 2022. The thirteenth round of negotiations for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement concluded in December, with both sides resolving that they would continue to negotiate towards a comprehensive and ambitious trade pact.

“Prime Minister Sunak fully agreed with the Raksha Mantri on the need for UK and India to work in the domains of trade, defence and technology. In particular, he expressed hope that the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations could be brought to a successful conclusion soon,” Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

“He also underlined his keenness, and that of his Government, to strengthen the defence and security pillar of the bilateral relationship, including through Government backing for stronger business and technology partnerships with Indian counterpart entities,” it added.

The meeting between the two leaders was “warm and cordial,” according to the press release. During the meeting, Rajnath Singh highlighted that both nations have made significant strides in moulding and recrafting the historic ties into a modern, multifaceted and mutually beneficial partnership, under the direction of the leaders of both nations.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recalled the recent enhancement in bilateral defence engagement, spanning joint exercises, training, capability building, increased interoperability, military-to-military ties especially in the maritime sector.

He emphasised the ongoing efforts to enhance defence industrial cooperation, including in the technology domain. Rajnath briefed Rishi Sunak about his positive interactions with the UK defence industry and the new positive energy in the bilateral defence relationship.

“The Raksha Mantri stated that the UK and other like-minded countries should work with India for strengthening a peaceful and stable global rules-based order, including through partnering India in its inexorable rise, which can be strengthened, reinforced and speeded up with friendly collaboration,” Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

During the meeting, Rajnath Singh gifted a Ram Darbar statue to Rishi Sunak. The meeting was also attended by the UK National Security Adviser, Tim Barrow. During the meeting, he stated that PM Narendra Modi is leading the quest of 1.4 billion Indians towards the national objective of becoming a developed nation by mid-21st century.

In the meeting with Rishi Sunak, Singh noted that PM Modi’s “efforts have borne remarkable fruits, growth is sustainably on the upswing, poverty has been reduced drastically, and a business-friendly architecture has been put in place.” He expressed the readiness of the Indian government at the international level to partner with friends like the UK to strengthen the rules-based world order.

In a post shared on X, Rajnath Singh stated, “Had a very warm meeting with the UK Prime Minister, Shri @rishisunak in London. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him. We discussed issues pertaining to defence, economic cooperation and how India and UK could work together for strengthening a peaceful and stable global rules-based order.”

Currently, Rajnath Singh is on an official visit to UK. It is the first visit by a sitting Indian Defence Minister to the UK in more than 20 years.

Earlier, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held “insightful deliberations” with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron on boosting ties between the two nations.

Taking to X, Rajnath Singh stated, “Insightful deliberations with the UK Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Cameron on boosting India-UK ties and deepening cooperation between both the countries.”

The UK is seeking greater access to the Indian market for items such as dairy products, automobiles including electric vehicles, and Scotch whiskey. India has a high import duty on automobiles (100%) and whiskey (150%). Indian industry has expressed its willingness to substantially reduce tariffs in automobiles and whiskey, provided London reciprocates as per the Indian conditions.

The India-UK FTA negotiations was launched on January 13, 2022 and 24 out of total 26 chapters have been mutually agreed and the two partners converge on many points in the remaining chapters, he said. The talks are lingering, initially due to a change in the leadership in the UK, and later due to the differences between the two sides over violent protests by Khalistani elements in London and other British cities.

Compared to the ongoing talks with the UK, India expeditiously concluded two major FTAs in 2022. The first round of negotiations for a India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was held on September, 2021, the FTA was signed February 18, 2022 and it entered into force from May 1, 2022.

ALSO READ-India-UK FTA dialogue to enter final stage on Jan 10

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Sunak clears the air on Rwanda plan  

However, he did not rule out having voiced concerns about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the east African country when at the Treasury…reports Asian Lite News

Ruling out that he had doubts on the Rwanda plan as Chancellor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said it was his job to ensure value for money on every proposal while he was in the Treasury.

According to The Evening Standard, Sunak said it was “wrong” to infer that he did not back the scheme to stop channel crossing, following a BBC report, which said he was not convinced of the plan’s effectiveness.

Citing No 10 papers from March 22, the BBC said last week that Sunak was also concerned about the cost of sending asylum seekers to Africa and wanted to limit the numbers.

Sunak said he has not seen the documents the report was based on as he appeared on the BBC on Sunday.

However, he did not rule out having voiced concerns about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the east African country when at the Treasury.

“My job (was) to ask probing questions of every proposal that crossed my desk as chancellor,” the Conservative Party leader told the BBC.

“You should always ask probing questions, you should always approach things from a position of scepticism to ensure that you get value for money for taxpayers.

“But to infer from that that I don’t believe in the scheme or the principle of deterrence is wrong. I was doing my job to get good value for money for taxpayers,” the Prime Minister added.

The documents had said that as Chancellor, Sunak felt “hotels are cheaper” than reception centres to house migrants, and was reluctant to fund “Greek-style reception centres” at a cost of 3.5 million pounds per day.

The Rwanda plan, launched in April 2022 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, became the core of Sunak’s policy to stop the boats — one of five key priorities, which he set out to achieve when he became the premier in October the same year.

Calling the British Government to publish the No 10 papers, Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “It is time the Tory Government was honest with the public, and publish both the papers outlining Rishi Sunak’s concerns and the full details of the cost of the scheme.”

ALSO READ-Cameron throws weight behind Rwanda Bill  

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Sunak vows action over Post Office scandal  

The government, which formally owns Post Office Ltd, has paid out millions in compensation to many of the sub-postmasters impacted but there are many others still waiting for years…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday said that the government is reviewing the compensation process in an accounting scandal that wrongly accused hundreds of sub-postmasters of fraud, many of them of Indian heritage.

During an interview with the BBC, Sunak was asked about the historic scandal involving a faulty IT system named Horizon dating back to the late 1990s and confirmed that his justice minister is “looking at” how the process of overturning wrongful convictions and providing compensations can be speeded up.

The government, which formally owns Post Office Ltd, has paid out millions in compensation to many of the sub-postmasters impacted but there are many others still waiting for years.

“Obviously it’s something that happened in the ’90s but actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriage of justice it is for everyone affected and it’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve, and that’s what the compensation schemes are about,” said Sunak.

“The government has paid out about GBP 150 million to thousands of people already. Of course, we want to get the money to the people as quickly as possible, that’s why there are interim payments of up to, I think, GBP 600,000 that can be made. There are three different schemes available and for anyone affected, they should come forward,” he said.

The issue has been brought back into focus again with a hard-hitting real-life ITV drama series ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’, which aired in the UK this month, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed soon after that it is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences.

Dozens more impacted by the faulty accounting system have since sought legal help, adding to the already over 700 sub-postmasters impacted by the scandal.

Back in April 2021, the case of Seema Biswas, now 47, came to light when she had her conviction quashed alongside Vijay Parekh – two British Indian sub-postmasters among a group of 39 who won a Court of Appeal case.

Misra took over her post office in Surrey in 2005 and was pregnant when she was wrongly handed a 15-month sentence over 12 years ago after being accused of stealing GBP 75,000 from her branch.

“I would have killed myself if I hadn’t been pregnant,” said Misra, a mother of two who had hailed the Court of Appeal verdict as a “huge moment”.

Sub-postmasters like her had appealed their convictions on two grounds: that they had been denied a fair trial, and that the circumstances in which the prosecutions went ahead “represents an affront to public conscience”.

In the ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, a three-judge bench granted the appeal on both grounds.

“Post Office Limited’s failures of investigation and disclosure were so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court,” said Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde, sitting with Justice Simon Picken and Justice Judith Farbey, at the time.

He said the Post Office “knew there were serious issues about the reliability of Horizon” and had a “clear duty to investigate” the system’s defects.

The ruling meant the former postmasters could bring new civil cases for malicious prosecution. However, the process has been a long-drawn one for the victims, many of whom are still waiting for their rightful exoneration and compensation in what has been branded as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.

Post Office Chief Executive Nick Read said in a statement on the agency’s website that he hoped the TV show “encourages anyone affected who has not yet come forward to seek the redress and compensation they deserve.”

The series, aired on UK channel ITV, has grown public sympathy for victims as well as demands for accountability.   In an interview with the BBC, Lee Castleton, a former sub-postmaster who says the Post Office ruined his life, shared that he is “really, really angry” over the ongoing situation.   

Speaking about the impact of the ITV drama, Castleton said he hoped “that pressure comes to bear. That’s what we’ve tried to do for years. It’s been very difficult to try to push our cause.”

“We’re just people from your village shop or your local post office,” he continued. “And it’s been really hard to drum up support, it’s been very difficult to get people to believe.” He said he hoped those listening would put pressure on those in power to help their cause.

Nobody from the Post Office or Fujitsu had been held accountable as of last year.

The Post Office still retains a role in the appeals process for the prosecutions it brought forward, the BBC reported. In Sunday’s interview, BBC journalist and show host Laura Kuenssberg asked Sunak if Justice Secretary Alex Chalk would look at removing the Post Office from that role or exonerating everyone convicted.

ALSO READ-Questions Arise Over Closure of Rishi Sunak’s Wife’s Firm in UK

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Elections will be held in autumn, says Sunak

Sunak dangled the prospect of future tax cuts to voters and attacked Starmer’s green proposals as the two leaders set out their stalls at the start of the election year…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak all but ruled out a May general election on Thursday as he indicated the country will likely go to the polls in the autumn. The Prime Minister made clear he would not be calling a spring poll.

On a visit to the East Midlands, he signalled that the election would be in the second half of the year. Sunak said that his “working assumption” is that he will hold a “general election in the second half of this year”. The Tories are currently trailing by Labour by 15 to 20 points in the polls.

Sunak dangled the prospect of future tax cuts to voters and attacked Keir Starmer’s green proposals as the two leaders set out their stalls at the start of the election year. Labour has claimed that a spring vote is the “worst kept secret in Parliament” in a possible ploy to claim Sunak has bottled it if he goes longer.

The Liberal Democrats have also been calling for Mr Sunak to hold the vote in May rather than trying to “cling on” to power for the rest of the year. But Sunak told broadcasters on a visit to a youth centre in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire: “So my working assumption is we’ll have a General Election in the second half of this year and in the meantime I’ve got lots that I want to get on with.”

The Conservative leader declined to rule out a May election categorically but repeated his intentions to go for later in the year. “I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes. But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration,” Sunak said.

“So I’ve got lots to get on with and I’m determined to keep delivering for the British people.” But Pat McFadden, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator, said: “All we have learned today is that our unelected Prime Minister has yet again bottled holding the election.

“He needs to stop hiding, stop being so weak, stop squatting in Number 10 without a mandate and simply come clean with the public: when will the British people get their say on 14 years of Tory failure?”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey echoed the Labour claim, saying: “Rishi Sunak has bottled it and is running scared of a May General Election. Squatter Sunak is holed up in Downing Street, desperately clinging on to power rather than facing the verdict of the British people.”

Jeremy Hunt sparked speculation that the election could be in May after it was announced that the Budget will be on March 6. The Chancellor is expected to announce tax cuts in a give-away Budget, with income tax and inheritance tax possibly being targeted.

But the tax cuts will take months to feed through into people’s pay packets to any significant extent. The economy is expected to be central to the election campaign.

Holding the election in the autumn will allow more time for the cost-of-living crisis to ease. The Prime Minister met his pledge to halve inflation last year, hitting 3.9 per cent in November.

However, millions of households are still seeing their budgets squeezed by rises in mortgage bills and the annual cost of gas and electricity still at around £1,900. The Prime Minister and Sir Keir Starmer both hit the road to go out on regional visits as the political parties started gearing up their election machines for what is expected to effectively be a gruelling ten-month campaign.

In a speech in Bristol, Sir Keir sought to portray Labour as the party of “hope” as he pledged to take on the Tories in a General Election fought over the economy.

He emphasised that Labour was ready for the “responsibility of serious government” and that it would seek to “bring the country together” in a “spirit of national unity” after 14 years of Conservative rule. In echoes of Tony Blair’s “things can only get better,” he appealed to voters to “hold onto the flickering hope in your heart that things can be better” and promised a “politics that treads a little lighter” after the divisions over Brexit and culture wars.

He added: “To truly defeat this miserabilist Tory project, we must crush their politics of divide and decline with a new Project Hope.”

Sunak was giving a rival New Year stump speech, arguing that voters should not risk a Labour government.

Ahead of the event, a Government source said: “The PM will be out talking directly to people about his five priorities and the progress the Government has made on driving down inflation, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats. He will be saying we’ve made great progress, don’t risk throwing that away with the Labour Party.”

The Tories also accused Sir Keir of being prone to reversing previously-made decisions.

Conservative chairman Richard Holden said: “Nothing is more cynical and populist than a weathervane Labour leader who has a consistent track record of telling people whatever he thinks they want to hear on any given day.”

ALSO READ-Sunak’s Asylum Backlog Claims Under Investigation by UK Statistics Authority

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Sunak’s Asylum Backlog Claims Under Investigation by UK Statistics Authority

Sunak said on Tuesday that he has delivered on his commitment with more than 112,000 asylum cases being processed in the past year and small boat crossing arrivals down by 36 per cent…reports Asian Lite News

A top statistics watchdog in the UK has said that it will look into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims of clearing the asylum backlog, after the opposition called it a “barefaced lie”, asking the Conservative leader to “stop the boasts”.

According to The Evening Standard, the UK Statistics Authority said on Wednesday that it was looking into the announcement as more than 4,500 “legacy” cases remained outstanding despite Sunak and his ministers claiming they had succeeded.

The claims will be scrutinised by the Office for Statistics Regulation, the statistics watchdog’s regulatory arm.

Sunak said on Tuesday that he has delivered on his commitment with more than 112,000 asylum cases being processed in the past year and small boat crossing arrivals down by 36 per cent.

But figures published by the Home Office showed that 4,537 complex legacy applications were still “awaiting an initial decision” as of December 28, 2023.

According to the Home Office, these “hard cases” typically relate to asylum seekers presenting as children — where age verification is taking place; those with serious medical issues; or those with suspected past convictions, where checks may reveal criminality that would bar asylum.

Taking to his X, Labour’s shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said on Tuesday that Sunak’s “barefaced lie” that he has cleared the asylum backlog would be “laughable if it wasn’t such an insult to the public’s intelligence”.

“Statistics published this morning by his own Govt show there are still around 100,000 cases languishing in the Tories’ never-ending backlog,” Kinnock said.

Condemning the Conservatives’ “false promises and claims”, shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister must “stop taking the country for fools” and added that “Rishi Sunak needs to stop the boasts”.

“Sunak claims to have cleared the asylum backlog. Not true. Not even cleared ‘legacy backlog’ — 4,500 cases not done, 17,000 ‘withdrawn” by the Home Office but they’ve no idea where those people are… And rest of backlog DOUBLED this year… Total backlog 99k,” Cooper wrote in a thread, recounting “broken promises” of the Prime Minister.

Cooper also spoke about the asylum hotel use, which Sunak had promised to end as it was costing 6 million pounds a day.

“Instead it went up this year by 20 per cent to 56,000, costing the British taxpayer more than GBP8m a day — and well over GBP2 bn a year,” Cooper wrote on X.

ALSO READ-Migration threatens to ‘overwhelm’ Europe, says Sunak

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Migration threatens to ‘overwhelm’ Europe, says Sunak

Sunak then hinted at the need to change international law on immigration, telling the crowd at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Atreju political festival: “If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak has said illegal migration threatens to “overwhelm” Europe and hinted a change is needed in international law in order to tackle it.

Speaking to Italian conservatives at an event in Rome, the prime minister said “enemies” could use immigration as a “weapon” by “deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society”.

“Criminal gangs will find ever cheaper ways to ply their evil trade,” he added. “They will exploit our humanity. They think nothing of putting people’s lives at risk when they put them in these boats at sea.”

Sunak then hinted at the need to change international law on immigration, telling the crowd at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Atreju political festival: “If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow.

“It will overwhelm our countries and our capacity to help those who actually need our help the most. If that requires us to update our laws and lead an international conversation to amend the post-war frameworks around asylum, then we must do that. Because if we don’t fix this problem now, the boats will keep coming and more lives will be lost at sea.”

Back in Britain, Sunak has been fighting to pass his flagship Rwanda bill, which was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last month. Tuesday saw the prime minister survive a possible rebellion as a new draft of the bill – which declares in law that Rwanda is a safe country – was passed by MPs at its second reading by 313 votes to 270, a majority of 43.

The revised bill will allow ministers to disapply the UK’s Human Rights Act, but does not extend the same powers to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which hardline Tory MPs demanded.

While in Rome, Sunak was embraced by Meloni – who has taken a hard-line stance on migration and who’s populist Brothers of Italy party hosted the event. The two leaders had held bilateral talks where they “agreed on the vital importance of tackling the scourge of illegal migration and the shared sense of urgency that they feel on this issue”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Meloni and Sunak also met with Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama, who’s country has a deportation scheme with Italy.

It comes as some 292 people made a journey across the English Channel in seven boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures published on Saturday.

It was also confirmed a migrant died during an incident on Friday, while another was left in a critical condition. Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said it was “not too late” for the prime minister to change direction on his migration policy.

“Once again we have the Prime Minister ramping up the rhetoric but failing to get a grip,” he added.

“After a week in which the Prime Minister has failed to convince many of his own backbenchers that he has a workable plan to end dangerous boat crossings, we hit a new grim milestone – far from stopping the boats, on Rishi Sunak’s watch this year, 600 boats have crossed.

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