Rishi Sunak’s government began last week by triumphantly announcing that a man whose asylum claim had been rejected had volunteered to take up to £3,000 cash in exchange for agreeing to take a commercial flight to Rwanda – plus the provision of housing, food and healthcare there for five years at a cost of £150,000 to the taxpayer. Sunak bookended it with some of the worst-ever English local election results for the Conservatives, and the shock loss of the West Midlands mayoralty to the Labour party.
A direct line can be traced from this preposterous claim of success to electoral disaster. During 14 years in government, the Conservatives have eroded the welfare safety net, sabotaged the quality of public services through underfunding and neglect, and imposed a huge economic hit in the form of a hard Brexit. Child poverty has gone up, the NHS is blighted by record waiting lists and understaffing and social care services for the vulnerable have been adversely affected.
