Rwanda Policy Has Already Failed Politically
New research from polling firm Savanta for the Daily Telegraph suggests there's been a significant drop in Conservative voters believing the Rwanda scheme will reduce small boats crossings, ahead of a series of key parliamentary votes.
Just one third (34%) of 2019 Conservative voters say the scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda - if passed in a series of votes in parliament in the coming days and weeks - will decrease the number of small boats crossing the Channel. This is an eight point drop from January 2024 (42%), with Conservative voters more likely to say that the Rwanda scheme won't make a difference at all (47%) than reduce numbers.
The new polling also suggests that seven in ten (70%) of Conservative voters believe that Rishi Sunak's government is handling the policy area of immigration badly. Immigration is the area most Conservative voters think the Government is handling poorly. The general public also continues to say that Labour would be better placed than the Conservatives to "Stop the Boats": Labour 32%; Conservatives 25%.
Could actual deportation flights taking off turn this perception round? That remains to be seen, with the numbers likely to be in the low hundreds and thousands arriving monthly, even Conservative inclined voters may continue to believe the Rwanda scheme won't make a difference at all to reducing numbers. Which means the Rwanda scheme will have failed politically and practically.
