.The Prime Minister said he is confident emergency legislation will make sure there are no more “domestic blockers” to the flagship policy which was thwarted by the Supreme Court.
Mr Sunak said the British public have been increasingly frustrated by the spiralling cost of housing migrants in hotels.
Speaking to journalists en-route to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai the PM said a successful deterrent that stops illegal migrants from coming to the UK will save huge amounts of money in the long run.
“We are already, incredibly frustratingly for the British people and the taxpayer, spending billions to house illegal migrants in hotels, especially, and that’s not right, I’ve talked about it repeatedly, we have got to end that.
“And we’re not going to end that unless we can have a successful deterrent that stops people from coming here, right? Because that in the long run is the billions that we need to save.”
Mr Sunak hit out after Rwanda raised concerns over the delays to the migrant scheme.
Kigali is said to be concerned by delays to the emergency legislation which will declare the country safe.
Home Office officials are in Kigali finalising details on a new treaty which ministers hope will address the Supreme Court’s concerns over Rwanda’s asylum system.
The Rwandan Government is said to be concerned about Britain having too much influence on Kigali’s legal system.
The Prime Minister insisted he is “completely confident” the scheme complies with the UK’s international obligations.
He added: “Now I want the next stage of this is for us to bring forward legislation to make it unequivocally clear, and Parliament will be able to confirm that, that Rwanda is safe for the purpose of operationalising this scheme and thereby making sure there are no more domestic blockers to the proper functioning of this scheme.
“I will not let a foreign court stop us from getting a flight off, I am crystal clear we are in compliance with all those obligations and I know the government and the party is united behind that position but also the country is united on this I’ve said it before I’ll say it again everyone’s patience is wearing thin, my patience is wearing thin, the country’s patience is wearing thin we have to end this merry go round.
“We are doing everything right we will bring forward this legislation, it will be crystal clear and then I expect to get this scheme up and running.”
Mr Sunak highlighted progress has already been made in tackling illegal migration as small boat crossings have fallen by a third this year.
But he vowed getting the Rwanda scheme up and running is crucial to finishing the job.
“In order to get the job done we do need to stand up the Rwanda plan because I want a functioning deterrent,” he said.
“We’ve seen that deterrents work, we’ve seen it in Albania. Because we are now returning people back to Albania as a result of the new agreement that we have, as part of the diplomacy and statecraft that we’ve conducted over the past year, you’ve seen the numbers coming from Albania drop by 90 per cent.
“That tells you that deterrents work, so if you can have a functioning deterrent system, people will stop coming. And we need to now replicate that on a bigger scale, that’s why Rwanda’s crucial.
“And if we can get that right, it will literally save us billions in the long run, so that is the right focus.”
Around 28,500 migrants have crossed the English Channel so far this year..
In 2022, 45,755 migrants made the crossing, the highest number since figures began to be collected in 2018.
Speaking to broadcasters as he arrived in the Gulf State Mr Sunak said his “patience is worn thin” by setbacks to the deal.
“We’re finalising that at the moment. And it’s important that we get it right because this is such a vital issue.
“But I’m clear about the goal here – the goal is to make sure that Parliament can declare unequivocally that on the basis of everything that we’ve done that Rwanda is a safe place to operationalise our scheme.
“Once we’ve done that and Parliament’s affirmed that, there should be no more domestic blocks to us putting in place this programme that we’ve been working on for a long time.
“But I’ve also been clear that I won’t allow a foreign court to block us from flights taking off. “My patience is worn thin, the British people’s patience is worn thin.
“And although we’ve made great progress on this issue – reducing the number of small boat crossings by a third this year, something that everyone thought was impossible when I got this job – we’ve got more to go.
“I want to finish the job and that’s why I’ll get the Rwanda scheme up and running.”
