Sunak weakened after asylum bill drama and opinion poll woes

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The Rwanda Safety (Asylum and Immigration) Bill successfully cleared its third reading on Wednesday evening, garnering support from 320 MPs while facing opposition from 276, providing the government with a substantial majority of 44.   Notably, 11 Conservative MPs, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, voted against the bill. Despite those claims by the prime minister his party continues to face badly in the opinions polls. A so called ‘mega pol this week predicted that the Conservatives would retain only 169 seats, 196 fewer than their 2019 total, while Labour would take 385, the Liberal Democrats 48 and the SNP 25.

Transcript

00:00 I think the fact is that Sonac emerges from this process with less authority than he had

00:07 before and that wasn't an awful lot. So I think he has a very difficult number of months.

00:12 And of course what we're into is the election period. Immigration is a problem amongst his

00:19 own party and I think it's going to be an issue that will sort of dog him all the way

00:23 to election day because quite clearly he's made it a proclamation he's going to deal

00:28 with the small boats. What he does hope, I'm absolutely certain, is that a plane will take

00:32 off in the next few months. So you can sort of say he's had success but hey that's far

00:37 from certain.

00:38 The Rwanda Safety Bill successfully cleared its third reading this week, garnering support

00:43 from 320 MPs while facing opposition from 276, providing the government with a substantial

00:52 majority of 44. Notably 11 Conservative MPs including former Home Secretary Soheila Braverman

00:59 voted against the bill. Here's what Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had to say in his press

01:05 conference.

01:06 This bill passed with an overwhelming majority in Parliament. But more broadly, last year

01:12 was difficult. Difficult for the country. We're still recovering from the impacts of

01:15 Covid, the legacy of backlogs in our public services, also the impact of the war in Ukraine

01:21 on people's bills.

01:22 Well despite those claims by the Prime Minister, his party continues to fare badly in the opinion

01:27 polls. A so-called mega-poll this week predicted that the Conservatives would retain only 169

01:34 seats at the next election. That's 196 fewer than their 2019 total. While the poll suggested

01:41 Labour would take 385, the Liberal Democrats 48 and the SNP 25.

01:47 They're talking about a 120 seat majority for Labour. So it's a landslide of proportions.

01:53 Not quite as great as happened in 1997 under Tony Blair. But nonetheless the Conservatives

02:00 on current form are in for a bit of a kicking.

02:03 But coming back to the issue of UK reform, or the reform UK I should say, that they're

02:08 likely to take away something like 97 seats. So quite clearly as a consequence of tactical

02:14 voting. So therefore there is a good argument, and this is what the right wingers say, if

02:19 we become more like UK reform, or if they push Rishi Sunak to steal some of their policies,

02:26 then of course maybe they'll capture some of these voters. So there is a lot to be played

02:29 for but I suspect that Rishi Sunak has said he's still like, this is as far as he dare

02:34 goes.

02:35 While immigration is expected to play big in campaigning for the next election, it's

02:40 still the cost of living crisis that is dominating public opinion.

02:45 It's about the fact that people feel no better off, and in many cases worse off than they

02:49 did last time. And I point out as people will remember, the last general election was fought

02:55 on getting Brexit done, which of course was the pronouncement from a certain Boris Johnson.

03:00 Now of course the thing is though, people do not feel better off.

03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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