British PM Rishi Sunak concedes he may not be able to stop Channel migrants by next election

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has once again refused to put a timeline to stopping the migrants-crossing-the-channel-crisis. Sunak said his plan to stop the boats may not succeed before the next election.

The Tory leader said the migrant situation was a "complex problem" which was costing exchequers and the public a lot of money.

“I want itto be done as soon as possible, but I also want to be honest with people that it is a complex problem. There is not one simple solution and it can’t be solved overnight and I wouldn’t be being straight with people if I said that was possible," said Sunak.

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“The current system is both unsustainable and completely unfair, but particularly unfair on British taxpayers who are forking out millions of pounds to house illegal migrants in hotels and local communities," added Sunak.

“It’s not an easy problem to fix. I never said we would be able to solve it overnight – it will take time and we have to attack it from lots of different ways."

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While Sunak tempered his expectations, he looked at the bright side saying that the number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel this year had been down for the first time in several years.

Sunak's back-and-forth on migrantcrisis

At the start of the year, the Tory leader, amid much pomp, laid out five pledges for 2023, of which one was tostop migrants from entering the UK illegally.

Afterwards, Home Secretary Suella Braverman tabled the Illegal Migration Billbefore the House of Commons with the Tory leader simultaneously issuing an ultimatum to illegal migrants crossing the English Channel.

However, Sunak's enthusiasm appeared to take a hit in April when he said his plan to stop small boats crossing the Channel "won't happen overnight". He alsopushed the timeline to achieve his goals beyond the general elections.

Notably, former interior minister Priti Patel in April last year brought the "Rwanda Asylum Policy"under which immigrants arriving in the UK through "illegal"means would be sent to the African country of Rwanda to seek asylum.

The immigration crisis reached a peak in 2022 when over 45,000 people entered the UK, breaking the previous year's record by more than 17,000.

(With inputs from agencies)

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