As Labour candidate sells children’s holidays to ‘unsafe’ Rwanda, PM delivers his starkest warning yet: Illegal migrants will overwhelm UK

• Rishi Sunak warns unchecked illegal migration could ‘destroy’ British democracy
• Prime Minister demands ‘Thatcherite’ approach to reduce illegal migration
• Mr Sunak spoke at an event in Rome organised by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni

Rishi Sunak has warned that Britain faces being ‘overwhelmed’ by illegal migration which will ‘destroy’ our democracy if radical measures are not taken now.

In his strongest words yet on the challenges posed by porous borders, the Prime Minister used a speech in Italy to demand a ‘Thatcherite’ approach to curbing illegal migration – and to call for international human rights laws to be changed to stop them being exploited.

Meanwhile, Labour has been accused of hypocrisy after The Mail on Sunday discovered one of its Election candidates organises children’s holidays to Rwanda – a nation party chiefs maintain is too unsafe to send illegal migrants to.

Sam Rushworth, who has been picked to stand in the target seat of Bishop Auckland, founded a travel firm called African Dreams, which describes Rwanda as a ‘safe and supporting environment’ where children as young as 13 can enjoy an adventure holiday. However, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said it is ‘shameful’ to send asylum seekers there.

Following a turbulent week in which Mr Sunak faced down a Commons revolt over his Rwanda plan, he told a conference in Rome: ‘If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow.’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking at event in Rome, said that it was time for a ‘Thatcherite’ approach to illegal migration as it would ‘destroy’ British democracy if left unchecked 

Mr Sunak, who recently faced down a substantial parliamentary rebellion on his flagship Rwanda plan, said: ‘If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow’

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said it is ‘shameful’ to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, an authoritarian state in east Africa

‘It will overwhelm our countries, and our capacity to help those who actually need our help most. The costs of accommodating these people will anger our citizens, who won’t understand why their money should have to be spent on dealing with the consequences of this evil trade. It will destroy the public’s faith not just in us as politicians but in our very systems of government.’

He raised the spectre of not just criminal gangs but hostile states exploiting failure to tackle illegal migration, saying: ‘Our enemies will see how unable we are to deal with this and so they will increasingly use migration as a weapon: deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our societies.’

Mr Sunak also flattered his host, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, by suggesting that she shared qualities with Margaret Thatcher. The two leaders have formed such a close political bond and sparky personal rapport as they try to devise solutions to the Europe-wide migrant crisis, that their meeting this weekend was described as a ‘love-burst’ summit.

Referring to a visit by Ms Meloni to Downing Street earlier this year, Mr Sunak said: ‘We had the opportunity to look through some of Margaret Thatcher’s personal papers together. And what struck me as we looked at them was not just her radicalism, her boldness, but her seriousness too.

‘She understood that ideas only mattered if you could implement them.

‘She was as serious about governing as she was about political philosophy… Margaret Thatcher never shied away from hard choices and big issues.’

Adding that he could ‘only guess what first attracted Giorgia to the strong female leader who was prepared to challenge the consensus, take on stale thinking and revive her country’, he said: ‘Today, there is no issue to which we need to apply Thatcher’s radicalism and drive to more than illegal migration.’

Admitting he was likely to be voted out at the next Election if he does not tackle the problem, Mr Sunak went on: ‘It is a fundamental tenet of sovereignty that it is us who should decide who comes to our countries, not criminal gangs.

‘If we cannot deliver on that, our voters will lose patience with us and the way in which their countries are run – and rightly so. We simply must have control of our borders.’

Insisting that the only way to stem the flow was to introduce a ‘credible’ deterrent, Mr Sunak said: ‘Both Giorgia and I are prepared to do that. Giorgia is planning to send asylum seekers to Albania to be processed and I am passing legislation so that we can send illegal migrants to Rwanda. We are both determined to break the business model of these criminal gangs.’

And he suggested ripping up international laws such as the European Convention on Human Rights to stop migrants from exploiting them to stay in the UK. Mr Sunak said: ‘If that requires us to update our laws and lead an international conversation to amend post-war frameworks around asylum, then we must do that. Because if we don’t fix this problem now, the boats will keep coming and more lives will be lost at sea.’

Mr Sunak has developed a close relationship with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with the leaders sharing a similar approach to migration

Mr Sunak also met Albanian counterpart Edi Rama at the Chigi Palace during his visit to Rome

Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta has said that ‘without lawful behaviour by the UK’ his country would pull out of its proposed role in the UK government’s asylum plan

The meeting of Mr Sunak and Ms Meloni this weekend has been described in Italy as a ‘love-burst within the context of geopolitics’. It follows a ‘spritz summit’ between the pair at the G20 Summit in India in the autumn when Ms Meloni drank an Aperol spritz while discussing ways to forge a joint approach to illegal migration. Teetotal Mr Sunak stuck to water.

The deal struck between the Italian and Albanian governments is seen as having been partly inspired by Britain’s Rwanda policy.

A Downing Street spokesperson said yesterday: ‘The leaders welcomed the strong co-operation between the United Kingdom and Italy across a range of areas, including on tackling illegal migration. They committed to continuing to strengthen the collective effort to fight criminal people-smuggling gangs and ensure control of Europe’s borders.’

Meanwhile, Conservative chairman Richard Holden criticised Labour following today’s revelations about candidate Sam Rushworth’s holiday company offering trips to Rwanda. He said: ‘The level of sheer hypocrisy from Sir Keir Starmer’s hand-picked Labour candidate is utterly staggering.

‘Labour have voted more than 60 times to block our plans to tackle illegal immigration with flights to Rwanda, pretending it’s not safe – yet one of their top candidates is selling children’s holidays there.’

Yesterday’s summit came as Tory MPs start to plan amendments to the Rwanda Bill ahead of another Commons showdown in January.

The Prime Minister has warned MPs on the Right of his party that pushing to quit the European Convention on Human Rights would ‘collapse the entire scheme’ as Rwanda would not agree to it.

Marco Longhi, who is part of the New Conservatives group and who abstained in last week’s key vote, said: ‘This was a claim which surprised many colleagues. The fact Rwanda could ‘collapse’ the deal is a very new and surprising ingredient that nobody had raised prior to last week. One has to question why.’

Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta has said that ‘without lawful behaviour by the UK’ his country would pull out of the partnership.

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