THE Prime Minister has spoken out following reports he had “doubts” over the Government’s Rwanda plan.
We previously told how Rishi Sunak was unsure the Government’s scheme to send migrants to Rwanda would stop channel crossings when he was chancellor.
The Prime Minister addressed the reports during his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning.
He said it was his job when chancellor to scrutinise “every proposal” that was asking for money but that it was “wrong” to infer that such an approach meant he did not back the policy.
“My job [was] to ask probing questions of every proposal that crossed my desk as chancellor,” he said.
“Whether you have doubts about it or not, you shouldn’t come to it with a preconceived notion that everything is fine when you are spending taxpayers money, of course you shouldn’t.
“You should always ask probing questions, you should always approach things from a position of scepticism to ensure that you get value for money for taxpayers. That is the job of the chancellor and the Treasury when things crossed their desk.”
It was only last month that the Prime Minister dodged a humiliating Commons defeat on the Rwanda bill, although many within the Tory party still have doubtsover the plan, including former immigration minister Robert Jenrick (below).
Sunak added: “To infer that I don’t believe in the scheme or the principle of deterrence is wrong. I was doing my job to get good value for money for taxpayers.
“I went through that process, funded the scheme with the prime minister and, as prime minister myself, I have made sure that we have a similar deterrent working with Albania, and I have made the point that it is because Albania is working that we should have confidence that the Rwanda scheme will work too.”
Sunak also said that he was unable to comment on the specific documents which reportedly showed he has expressed doubt over the plan as he had not seen them.
