After the screeching rhetoric of Tuesday afternoon – when Conservative MPs cheered Rishi Sunak’s plans to deport “illegals” who arrive in the UK without any formal hearing – on Wednesday came the gut-wrenching reality.
Four people died risking everything to reach the UK from France. Grainy footage obtained by Sky News showed more than 40 desperate people, illuminated by a helicopter’s beam, struggling to clamber out of a twisted black dinghy on to a boat in freezing temperatures.
Witnesses said among the survivors were people from Afghanistan and Iraq – two countries from which millions of people continue to flee because of war and persecution.
It was a reminder that even in temperatures of -4C people are ready to risk their lives to get to the UK, and will not be deterred by hardline policies.
Suella Braverman addressed the Commons on Wednesday and did not on this occasion refer to those picked up as part of a south coast “invasion”. But she did maintain that the latest tragedy, just over a year since 27 people died in a similar incident in the Channel, reinforced the government’s determination to implement policies that would stop the boats.
“This government won’t stop until we have seen progress, until people understand that taking this lethal journey is not safe, it is not lawful, and it will not lead them to a better life in the United Kingdom,” she told MPs.
She reiterated the key elements of the five-point plan announced by the prime minister 24 hours earlier, highlighting the creation of a “unified small boats operational command” to bring together the different agencies involved, with an additional 700 members of staff hired to help.
Under pressure from backbench Tory MPs to win back 2019 voters who are angry that the government has not taken back control of their borders as promised, Sunak has wrested control of the small boats crisis off Braverman.
The prime minister promised to quickly deport Albanians back to their homeland; draw up new laws to ensure the instant removal of those who come from third countries; get rid of two-thirds of the near 150,000 backlog of asylum cases; and, an issue that enrages “red wall” MPs more than any other, stop putting asylum seekers in hotels and place them in disused barracks, student accommodation and abandoned holiday parks instead.
But Conservative MPs are experiencing deja vu. Some of the promised policies appear to be copies of those put forward under Boris Johnson.
Priti Patel had insisted that anyone who arrived in the UK “illegally” would be deemed inadmissible and returned to their home or a safe third country. And Patel’s promises were never implemented.
Sunak’s desire to move forward on migration faces other challenges. The UN refugee body, the UNHCR, has said any move to remove people without examining claims to be asylum seekers will breach the UK’s legal obligations.
Many Tories, including Johnson and Patel, want to defy or leave the European convention on human rights. But Sunak and Braverman appear to be reluctant to say publicly that they are happy to make the break.
Braverman declined an invitation on Wednesday to repeat a previous statement that she wished to leave the convention.
Labour, in a move that has dismayed refugee charities, are not arguing with the principle that more needs to be done to stop the crossings. Instead, they are accusing the Conservatives of being “too weak” in their previous attempts to tackle people-smuggling gangs.
With the opinion polls giving Labour a lead fluctuating between 23 and 32 points, and with the Tories losing votes to a resurgent Reform UK (formerly the Brexit party), Tory MPs fear being wiped out at the next election.
And with people still ready to risk all to get to the UK, even in the depths of a harsh December night, it seems unlikely that the small boats crisis will disappear.
