London, Feb 6 (PTI) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday said he was “taken by surprise” when he agreed to make a GBP 1,000 bet over his Rwanda policy to fly out illegal migrants to the East African nation while their asylum applications are processed.
During a BBC radio interview, Sunak defended the act saying he was “not a betting person”, but denied it was a mistake to shake hands with ‘TalkTV’ host Piers Morgan during an interview that the deportation flights would take off before the next general election.
He stressed that it was his way to express his complete commitment to a central policy of his government.
“I am not a betting person, and I was taken totally by surprise in that interview,” Sunak told the BBC.
“The point I was trying to get across – I was taken totally by surprise – was actually about the Rwanda policy and about tackling illegal migration, which is something I care deeply about,” he said.
In an attempt to revive the controversial policy, the Sunak-led government introduced legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country, but the bill needs to be approved by the House of Lords before it becomes law. The government has said it is still aiming for flights to take off in the next few months.
Sunak has said he expects a general election to be held in the second half of this year and one must legally take place by the end of January 2025.
In an interview on TalkTV this week, Morgan challenged the Prime Minister: “I’ll bet you GBP 1,000 to a refugee charity if you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election.” Shaking hands with the presenter, Sunak said: “I want to get people on the planes.” The Opposition lashed out at this bet, with the Labour Party saying it showed he was “totally out of touch with working people”.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) said it had reported Sunak for a potential breach of ministerial rules over the “grotesque” bet.
SNP’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman has written to the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, calling for an investigation into whether Sunak broke the Ministerial Code.
“Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel – and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland,” said Blackman.
“It’s particularly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of the richest men in the UK, thinks it’s appropriate to accept a GBP 1,000 wager – and will remind ordinary working families that near billionaire Sunak doesn’t have a clue what life is like for the rest of us in a cost-of-living crisis,” she said.
Labour’s shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said: “Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping GBP 1,000 bets.” Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael noted: “Instead of placing a trashy bet on the Rwanda scheme, the prime minister should put his money where his mouth is on the soaring NHS backlog.” Sunak, who took charge at 10 Downing Street in October 2022, was the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer in No. 11 Downing Street when the Rwanda policy was first announced in April 2022.
The deal with Rwanda has since been caught up in legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent from the UK so far.
The controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill is now going through its parliamentary process. The bill is central to Sunak’s pledge to take decisive action to curtail illegal migration before he faces the electorate in a general election. PTI AK PY AKJ PY PY
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