Sunak doubles down on controversial Rwanda plan and vows ‘vigorous’ fight ahead

PM insists his plan to stop the boats was not on hold

Rishi Sunak has doubled down on his imperilled Rwanda policy even as he denied he was betting the house on the controversial plan.

The prime minister told senior MPs that his government would “vigorously” appeal last week’s court ruling its flagship policy was unlawful.

But he would not be drawn on a plan B or when he would achieve his pledge to “stop the boats”.

It came as he:

• admitted he has not read in full a damning report that accused seven of his MPs of an attack on democracy in defence of Boris Johnson
• blamed the high number of fixed-rate mortgages for making the fight against inflation more difficult
• dampened hopes of public sector pay rises or tax cuts
• suggested artificial intelligence could raise GDP by 10 per cent in a decade, make public services more efficient and reduce teacher workload – but firms may have to have “watermarks” if they use the technology
• denied there was a Whitehall “Blob” blocking ministers from achieving their policy aims

Mr Sunak’s defiant tone came hours after his government suffered 11 defeats in the Lords on its small boats bill.

Ministers are now expected to water down the bill when it returns to the Commons.

The prime minister told MPs on the Commons Liaison Committee, which is made up of chairs of other parliamentary committees: “Our belief remains that the plan that we have is legal, it is compliant with all our obligations and we will be appealing it vigorously.”

He added: “We will continue to confidently and vigorously pursue our case.”

But he denied he was “betting the house” on the appeal and insisted his plan to stop the boats was not on hold, pointing to a deal to return migrants to Albania.

Mr Sunak also insisted the Rwanda deal was “uncapped” despite suggestions that the country could take just 500 people from the UK.

As part of a stormy session Mr Sunak was told by one MP: “A lot of people will think, prime minister, you are not really on their side.” On Rwanda, the Labour MP Diana Johnson asked him: “What’s going wrong, because you were very chipper the last time [you appeared before the committee]?”

Mr Sunak is under pressure from some Tory MPs who have demanded a back-up plan on small boats after last week’s court defeat.

On mortgages, he said the government remained “committed to bringing inflation down”, as the average five-year fix topped 6 per cent.

“It’s clearly inflation proving more persistent than people anticipated,” he told the cross-party committee.

That did not mean the policy was “wrong”, he added.

Warned that rising interest rates were making a small number of people do all the “heavy lifting” because of the high number of fixed mortgage rates, Mr Sunak said: “You’re right about the transmission mechanism being perhaps slower when it comes to mortgages than it has been in the past, because of the preponderance of people to have at least short-term fixed-rate mortgages now.

“But as I say, the mortgage aspect of it is just one of the many transmission mechanisms of the monetary policy.”

He also warned on calls for large public sector pay awards or tax cuts, that the government would be “responsible”.

During the wide-ranging session, Mr Sunak also insisted he had no “active” involvement in Boris Johnson’s resignations honours list.

He also suggested that gongs passed to the King for a final sign-off did not necessarily have the approval of the sitting prime minister.

And he revealed that Liz Truss’s resignation list has yet to reach him.

Asked if he would put forward a similar list on leaving No 10, he said that “it is not something I am focused on or have given any thought to”.

He also came under fire for missing last month’s vote to censure Mr Johnson over Partygate and was accused of caring more about cricket than parliament.