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11 months ago
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Integrating migrants into society is 'impossible' at current levels Robert Jenrick has warned just days after he suddenly quit as immigration minister.
The Conservative MP resigned from his role, which had held for just over year, on Wednesday in staunch opposition to the Prime Minister's Rwanda Bill.
Jenrick argued the bill would fail, adding that any suggestion it will remove the arrival of small boats quickly 'is for the birds'.
Last night he claimed the Tories would face the 'red-hot fury of voters at the ballot box' unless further action it taken to bring down the high levels of immigration to the UK.
The MP for Newark went on to accuse Rishi Sunak of failing to keep his word 'to do whatever it takes' to stop the boats.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has warned integrating migrants into society is 'impossible' at current levels - just days after he resigned from his post
Jenrick argued Rishi Sunak's Rwanda Bill would fail, adding that any suggestion it will remove the arrival of small boats quickly 'is for the birds'. Pictured: Migrants carrying a boat near Gravelines, near Dunkirk in October
Writing in the Telegraph he said: 'GP services and hospitals do not grow on trees. Integration is impossible if you let in over 1.2 million new people as we have done over the last two years.
'There is no better example of the failed Westminster consensus over the last 30 years than allowing historically unprecedented levels of immigration, resulting in disastrous consequences for the country and at every stage ignoring the express wishes of voters.
'Centre-Right parties across Europehave a choice: begin to deliver on themainstream concerns of ordinary people when it comes to immigration, or face their red-hot fury at the ballot box.'
The former minister went to argue that the Government's plan to reduce net migration from 745,000 to the 2019 level of 226,000 is a 'considerable way off'.
The onslaught of criticism comes as the Rwanda legislation was only given a '50 per cent at best' chance of successfully getting removal flights off the ground next year, according to an official legal assessment for the Government.
Attorney General Victoria Prentis has been told that the legislation leaves a significant risk of the European Court of Human Rights blocking planes to Kigali, the Times reported.
It is the latest stumbling block Mr Sunak is facing, with the assessment likely spark the PM to toughen up his battle to get divided to Tory MPs to support the new Bill and revive the £290million policy.
The former minister went to argue that the Government's plan to reduce net migration from 745,000 to the 2019 level of 226,000 is a 'considerable way off'. Pictured: Migrants in a dinghy sail toward the south coast
Migrants move a smuggling boat into the water as they embark on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France last year
Lines of boats believed to have been used by migrants to cross the English Channel are stored at a lorry storage depot in Dover, Kent
Mr Sunak is fighting to convince members of his party not to rebel on Tuesday's crunch vote, with some more moderate Tories expressing concerns about whether the East African nation is 'safe'.
Others on the right of the party, however, want to go further in disapplying the European Convention on Human Rights. Both wings are seeking their own legal advice.
But according to The Times, asylum seekers will still be able to lodge legal challenges against their deportation based on individual circumstances despite Mr Sunak's bill.
The advice from the Government Legal Department was said to have been signed off by top lawyer Sir James Eadie, who advocated for the Home Office in the Supreme Court case.
It appears to have been built off the European court in Strasbourg blocking flights by granting an interim injunction as it did in June last year.
Not disputing the advice, a Government official said: 'We do not comment on or share Government legal advice and it would be very wrong for anyone recently departing Government to do so.
'Ministers are reassured that this Bill goes as far as it can within international law and therefore ensures we can get flights off to Rwanda next year.'
One source backed up the report, while another sought to argue the advice was just one of the opinions the Government had sought.
Since its introduction, the Rwanda policy has attracted criticism and was hit with a fresh wave when it emerged that the UK had paid an additional £100 million on top of the £140 million already paid to Kigali.
Ministers are expected to pay another £50 million next year for the policy first announced in April last year but has so far been unsuccessful in removing a single migrant.
Failure to win Tuesday's vote could plunge Mr Sunak's leadership into a fresh crisis.
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