Rishi Sunak may not (yet) be able to fix the economy, cut NHS waiting lists or end the wave of strikes in the public sector – or, if the polls are correct, hold on to some of the safest Conservative seats in the country – but he can at least pretend to be on course to “stop the boats” as parliament takes its long summer break. That is what passes for success at this stage of his administration.
The imminent passage into law of the so-called Illegal Migration Bill is a profoundly depressing moment. Coming as the government’s absurd migrant barge takes up its berth off Dorset, it demonstrates just how callous the government has become, but also how futile is its stigmatisation of refugees. Put at its simplest, a great big barge and yet another draconian law (which is probably unlawful under Britain’s international human rights obligations) will not “stop the boats”. Nor will the Rwanda deportation plan, held up by judicial review, and extremely limited in its capacity to process hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Neither, indeed, will Suella Braverman’s dehumanising language about “invasions”. Such high-profile, symbolic gestures, a kind of political cosplay, will achieve nothing. And the inevitable failure to “stop the boats” may well end up being Mr Sunak’s political epitaph. Or, perhaps, one of five such lines, given the lack of progress on his other designated “priorities”.
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