A Tory London mayoral candidate has described Rishi Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as a “necessary evil” after repeatedly refusing to endorse the policy.
Moz Hossain, one of only two hopefuls left in the contest to be the Conservatives’ nominee, struggled to say whether he backed the party’s Rwanda plan in an excruciating interview.
But the barrister, backed by some big Tory donors, later said he did support the PM and home secretary Suella Braverman’s efforts to send migrants arriving in small boats to the central African nation.
“The Rwanda policy is a necessary evil to fight an even greater evil, people-smuggling and human trafficking,” he told The Telegraph.
It followed a gruelling exchange on GB News, where the Tory candidate was asked: “Do you support the Rwanda plan, yes or no?”
Mr Hossain said “we have to stop illegal immigration,” before going on to say “we have to find an effective way to stop these criminal gangs” when he was pressed again on the question.
Asked once again if he backed plan, he said: “There’s a legal process. It’d be wrong, as a King’s Counsel, somebody who defends the legal system … there’s a process going on.”
His rival for the Tory nomination Susan Hall has backed the Rwanda policy. She said: “Some questions aren’t a simple yes or no – but quite a few of those were, and they should have been answered firmly.”
Court of Appeal judges ruled last month that Rwanda was not a safe country to receive asylum seekers from the UK – saying the Home Office had ignored “the past and the present situation”.
But Ms Braverman insisted that she “respectfully disagreed” with the judgment, and the Sunak government has launched its bid to fight the ruling by taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
Braverman and Sunak have made concessions to push bill through— (Simon Walker/No 10 Downing Street)
It emerged on Monday that the government has offered Tory rebels some concessions to the Illegal Migration Bill in a bid to push it through before parliament’s summer recess begins on 20 July.
The bill originally stripped out time limits on the length of time that unaccompanied children and pregnant women could be detained – but the strict limits were reinstated by peers last week.
Keen to avoid a brewing rebellion among Tory moderates – and protected “ping pong” with the Lords over the next 10 days – The Independent understands that Mr Sunak’s government will offer a partial climb down on the detention issue.
Ministers will limit the amount of time unaccompanied children can be detained to eight days, from the current period of 24 hours, and has agreed to keep the current rules in place on detaining pregnant women for no more than 72 hours.
It comes as junior immigration minister was lambasted from his own backbenches in parliament after defending the painting over of cartoon murals of Mickey Mouse and Tom and Jerry at a unit for lone child asylum seekers.
Tory peer Lord Brownlow said he was “ashamed” and stressed the need to show compassion. Former Tory minister Lord Deben told the minister to imagine his own child being held at the site, and Tory peer Lord Cormack said it was “not worthy of our country”.
But junior Home Office minister Lord Murray pointed out the artwork depicting Mickey Mouse had not been officially approved – and claimed that it was right the detention facilities “have the requisite decoration befitting their purpose”.
Meanwhile, Mr Hossain has been backed by property tycoon Nick Candy, private equity boss Wol Kolada and telecoms entrepreneur Bassim Haidar in the race to take on Labour mayor Sadiq Khan for City Hall.
Tory frontrunner Daniel Korski was forced out of the race last month after he was accused of groping broadcaster Daisy Goodwin’s breast in Downing Street . Mr Korski said he still “categorically” denied the allegations, but said they had become a “distraction” for his party.
