Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Sunak ‘as angry as anyone else’ about migrant crisis and ‘determined to fix it’

Prime minister says he has spent more time on small boats than anything else other than the economy since he got the top job.

Sunak ‘as angry as anyone else’ about migrant crisis and ‘determined to fix it’

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said he is “determined” to tackle the migrant crisis which is eating into the UK’s taxpayers’ money.

As the number of migrants and asylum seekers illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats has already reached record levels, the government’s policy to deport them to Rwanda has been complicated by judicial intervention.

The Boris Johnson government had planned to send anyone entering the UK illegally and those who have arrived illegally since January 1, to the African country after having struck a deal with Kigali.

However, deportation flights were thwarted this summer by an injunction brought by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

“I’m as angry as anyone else about what is going on and I am determined to fix it,” Sunak told The Spectator magazine ahead of the UK High Court’s ruling on legal challenges to the Rwanda plans.

“I’ve spent more time on small boats than anything else other than the economy since I got this job,” the prime minister said.

Finding a solution to the issue was a “moral question”, he said as he found it “not fair” to fund the support system from British taxpayers’ money when there was already pressure on public services.

More than 100,000 asylum seekers are currently supported at public expense in Britain.

It is estimated, two per cent of the Albanian male population is applying for asylum in the UK.

In the face of an increasing number of Albanians crossing the Channel, home secretary Suella Braverman too had hinted at the government tightening the modern slavery legislation to prevent its abuse.

Sunak said he spent a lot of time studying how other countries were tackling the influx and “I’m prepared to do what it takes to fix the problem.”

While he admitted it is a matter calling for urgent attention, he, however, said his government would not hasten with any measure that would later be defeated in the court of law.

“What I want to do – whether it comes to small boats or anything – is when I stand up and tell the country this is what I’m going to do, I will actually deliver”, Sunak said.

“I want people to be able to trust me when I say something is going to happen,’ he said, adding ‘if that means I take a bit of extra time to get it right, then that’s the right thing to do.”

He said he wanted to put the economy back on track of growth, saying “We have done a good chunk of the beginning of that.”

Financial markets, which went into a tailspin in the aftermath of the Liz Truss government’s mini-budget, recovered after Sunak took over as the prime minister.

He would reform the public services to “make sure that they actually deliver for people”, he said.

On the NHS, he was trying to figure out how he could provide patients with “the fastest” and “most effective healthcare.”

More For You

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

Rishi Sunak. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the banking world as senior adviser at Goldman Sachs group, with plans to donate his salary to the education charity he recently established with his wife Akshata Murty.

The US-headquartered multinational investment bank, where Sunak worked before entering politics, made the announcement on Tuesday (8) after the requisite 12-month period elapsed since the British Indian leader's ministerial term concluded following defeat in the general election on July 4 last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK ramps up drought response following driest spring

The EA has begun conducting more compliance checks on high-usage industries

Getty Images

UK ramps up drought response following driest spring since 1893

Key points

  • Spring 2025 was England’s driest and warmest in over 130 years
  • Reservoirs across England only 77% full, compared to 93% average
  • Environment Agency increases monitoring and drought planning
  • North-west England officially declared in drought

Water conservation measures stepped up ahead of summer

The UK government has increased efforts to manage water resources after confirming that England experienced its driest and warmest spring since 1893. The Environment Agency (EA) reported that reservoirs were on average only 77% full, significantly lower than the usual 93% for this time of year.

The announcement came after a National Drought Group meeting on Thursday, which reviewed the impact of continued dry weather on crops, canal navigation, and river flows. Poor grass growth and dry soil conditions were noted as threats to food production and livestock feed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Norman Tebbit

Following Thatcher’s third general election victory in 1987, Tebbit stepped back from frontline politics to care for his wife. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Former minister, Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies at 94

Norman Tebbit, a close ally of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a former Conservative Party cabinet minister, has died at the age of 94. His son William confirmed the news on Tuesday.

"At 11:15 pm on 7th July, 2025, Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94," William Tebbit said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less