POLL OF THE DAY: Do you think Rishi Sunak can save the Tory vote? - YOUR VERDICT
Rishi Sunak has said that he is 'pumped up' and ready for the 2024 election
PA
Rishi Sunak seemed confident that he would win July's General Election during his whirlwind tour of the UK.
Addressing journalists remotely whilst on a flight to Belfast, he said: “I love doing this. I’ve been doing it since the beginning of the year, I’ve been out and about pretty much two, three days a week since the beginning of the year and I love it.
“I love talking to people, I love having the debate, I love having the Q&A with people, answering their questions, making sure they know what I’m about and I’m really confident that over the next few weeks we’re going to have a really good conversation as a country about the future we want.”
Asked if he was enjoying the campaign, he replied: “Yes I am enjoying it. I’m absolutely enjoying it.”
POLL OF THE DAY: Do you think Rishi Sunak can save the Tory vote? - YOUR VERDICT
GB News
He went on to say that he's "pumped up" and "damn right" sure he'll win the election.
However, Sunak admitted the first flights to Rwanda would not take off before the election - and Labour have pledged to scrap the scheme, meaning flights may never get off the ground.
Though the PM said: "If I’m re-elected as Prime Minister, on July 5, these flights will go, we will get our Rwanda scheme up and running."
Speaking to LBC, he conceded that the flights will not take off until "after the election", but added: "The preparation work has already gone on."
Sunak admitted the first flights to Rwanda would not take off before the election
PA
When asked about withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), something which the right of his party are particularly keen on, he refused to be drawn in on it.
He instead told critics to "wait for the manifesto".
The PM has previously said that controlling illegal migration is "more important" than membership of the ECHR, saying he would not let a "foreign court" interfere with a policy that is "fundamental to our sovereignty".
But Sunak has drawn criticism for not pulling out of the convention - not least from former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who claimed last month that the current Government hasn't "laid the groundwork" to quit the ECHR.
And Braverman also counselled against including any kind of withdrawal plan in a manifesto.
She said: "It should be noted that any attempt to include a plan for ECHR withdrawal in a losing Conservative Party election manifesto risks setting the cause back a generation."
The UK's membership of the treaty, as enforced by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, has hung over the Conservative Government's Rwanda plan since its inception.
70 per cent of GB News members who voted in the poll do not think Rishi Sunak can save the Tory vote.
On the other hand 24 per cent believe that he can, while six per cent are unsure.