Can Rishi Sunak make the small boats law a success?

The prime minister could develop a reputation as a problem-solver but Sean O’Grady says it might not win him any votes

Rishi Sunak hasspoken on wanting to create a ‘deterrent effect’ for migrants planning to cross the Channel (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) (PA Wire)

Suella Braverman, with Rishi Sunak at her side, has presented her new immigration bill to parliament. Not only are migration and asylum issues that have proved hugely controversial, but getting control of Britain’s borders was a key promise made by Brexiteers, now reinforced by Sunak’s personal promise to ‘stop the boats’ – one of his five key pledges for 2023.

What’s the good news for Sunak?

The prime minister will be hoping the small boats crisis will be the second seemingly unfathomable political ‘Rubik’s cube’ he can earn credit for sorting out. The first was the Windsor Framework – his replacement for the Northern Ireland Protocol, which achieved widespread, though not universal, acclaim. The aim of this immigration policy is to make it impossible to claim asylum in the UK if arriving by illegal means. This, the reasoning goes, removes the incentive to make the perilous journey across the English Channel and collapse the business model of the people-smugglers. The policy is one of deterrence.