Rishi Sunak plans crackdown on Channel migrants people traffickers this week trends now
Rishi Sunak is planning to ‘seize control’ of the Channel migrants crisis by announcing a crackdown this week on the Albanian people-traffickers linked to the majority of cases.
Whitehall sources said the Prime Minister was ‘looking at all options’ to fast-track the return of Albanians who come to the UK, including the use of the Albanian police to check criminal records.
It comes as the Prime Minister is under mounting pressure from Red Wall Tory MPs to tackle the issue.
Whitehall sources said the Prime Minister was ‘looking at all options’ to fast-track the return of Albanians who come to the UK, including the use of the Albanian police to check criminal records. Migrants are seen being rescued by the RNLI in Kent last week
Tory MP Lee Anderson tells today’s Mail on Sunday that his Nottinghamshire constituents are ‘losing patience’ with the Government.
Mr Anderson, a former Labour party member who is polling behind his former party in his seat, writes on this page: ‘Illegal small boat crossings are now a full-blown industry, making us the laughing stock of the world, with 40,000 people arriving on our shores this year alone. And the people who suffer most are the hardworking British taxpayers who have to foot the bill.
‘While my constituents suffer from a cost-of-living crisis, it is deeply unfair for the Home Office to be chucking millions at hotels – paying far more than the market price – to rent rooms to house illegal economic migrants from safe countries.’
In what appears to be a veiled threat to leave the Tories, Mr Anderson adds: ‘My party can be a force for good in this great country, but it isn’t yet choosing to be.
Rishi Sunak is planning to ‘seize control’ of the Channel migrants crisis by announcing a crackdown this week on the Albanian people-traffickers linked to the majority of cases
‘If this isn’t solved within the first three months of 2023, we will struggle to retain the Red Wall and my conscience will be severely tested. Because I want to stand as a Conservative candidate representing a party that will put the interests of my constituents before the thousands of illegal immigrants arriving here every month.’
The Prime Minister is also expected to spend the Christmas recess drafting an outline of ‘Sunakism’, focusing in particular on a tougher immigration policy and help for families with the cost of living.
Mr Sunak has been criticised in recent weeks by members within his party that he is a ‘managerial’ Premier without a clear political ethos.
Mr Anderson’s remarks were made after this newspaper revealed last month that MPs in the Red Wall seats of the North and Midlands have held discussions about forming a breakaway party that would be
