If the tenor of debate about asylum seekers arriving via small boats is somewhat less fevered than in previous Augusts, that is because it is not the main theme of the Tory leadership race. The severity of the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and an alarming drought mean that minds are focused elsewhere. Thankfully, there have not been recent drownings following the tragic sinking in which more than 30 people died in November.
But the politics surrounding this issue remain as dispiriting as ever. The outcry surrounding the government’s deal with Rwanda to send asylum seekers there – a proposal that would have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago – proved insufficient to deter ministers from going ahead. It emerged on Thursday that a new attempt at a deportation flight is under way, after the first was cancelled in June following legal action. In September the government will defend the scheme in a high court challenge brought by charities and the Public and Commercial Services Union. So far, nothing either Tory leadership contender has said suggests that they plan to do anything other than press on with this inhumane and impractical operation. With a huge backlog of asylum claims, which stood at 125,000 in July, the whole system remains in a state of disarray, including its indefensible practice of detaining people in de facto prisons.
