There is only one realistic way to reduce the number of Channel deaths

Ahead of the troubled Rwanda Bill’s third reading – and with Conservatives at war with each other over government proposals to deter migrants and stop small boat crossings – Sunder Katwala says those in power have lost sight of what is at stake (and what it will really take)

Since Rishi Sunak’s pledge, in March 2023, that anyone who crossed the Channel would be removed within weeks, 50,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the UK (PA)

Five deaths in January’s icy waters of the English Channel on Sunday morning were a sombre reminder that dangerous journeys in small boats should be nobody’s idea of how a functioning asylum system works.

Yet Westminster arguments over the government’s troubled Rwanda policy – which returns to the House of Commons for a crucial third reading tomorrow – demonstrate how deeply divided our politicians are over either the principles or the practice of a workable alternative.

“Crucially, we cannot waste large sums of taxpayers money on the policy only to fall at the first legal hurdle,” Rishi Sunak wrote during the Conservative leadership contest. He had been considering ditching a scheme that he doubted was legal, affordable or effective – yet he was persuaded to promise, rhetorically, a massive expansion of the scheme.