'WHERE ARE THEY?!' Rishi Sunak dodges questions after LOSING illegal migrants
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Rishi Sunak dodged questions from Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions today, after the Labour leader accused him of losing illegal migrants.
Starmer asked Sunak about the issue three times, with the Prime Minister skirting around the question.
WATCH: Lindsay Hoyle slaps down Rishi Sunak as PM breaks PMQs protocol
He dubbed the Prime Minister's plans to send migrants to Rwanda a "farce" in a brutal back and forth at Prime Minister's Questions.
The Labour leader said: "Mr Speaker, the government has been forced to admit that it has lost contact with 85% of the 5000 people earmarked for removal to Rwanda. Has he found them yet?"
Sunak responded by hitting out at Labour's record on migration, saying: "What I can tell the honourable gentleman is that, in spite of him blocking every time and blocking every single attempt that we have taken, we have managed now because of our actions to reduce the number of people coming here by over a third last year."
But Starmer pressed him on the issue, saying: "My first thought is, how do you actually lose 4250 People?
"Then you remember that this is the government that strapped teachers to but the costs are still rising by billions. This is the government that spent 400 million pounds of taxpayers money on a Rwanda scheme, yet can't deport a single person."
He added: "Only thisfarceofagovernmentcouldlosethepeopleitwasplanningtoremove.Buthedidn'tanswerthequestion.SoI'llaskhimagain.Wherearethe4250peoplethatthegovernmenthaslostwhere?"
Sunak hit back: "We've actually identified and removed over 20,000 people from this country".
He added: "It is important that we get this up and running because it's important, as the National Crime Agency say, that we have a working deterrent to resolve this issue. That's indeed how Australia solve this problem. Albania has worked for us.
"We know he asks these questions.about the detail of these things, but we all know he doesn't actually care about solving this problem."
Pressing him once again, Starmer said: "Spending 400 million pounds on a plan not to get anybody to Rwanda whilst losing 4000 people is not a plan. It's a farce.
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"Only this government could waste hundreds of millions of pounds on a removals policy that doesn't remove anyone. Only this government could claim that it's gonna get flights off the ground, only to discover they couldn't find a plane.
"Only this government could sign a removal deal with Rwanda only to end up taking people from Rwanda to here.
"But he still hasn't answered the question. So I'll try again. What progress has he made in locating the 4250 people his government has apparently lost. He's dodged it three times. Where are they?"
Dodging the question once again, the Prime Minister said: "Mr. Speaker, it's the same thing again and again. Here we are talking about what we are doing. But I'm happy to go over it again.
"What are we doing? We've increased the number of illegal enforcement rates by 70 per cent, leading to thousands of arrests using powers that [Starmer] blocked in this house. We have closed down thousands of bank accounts of illegal workers again, using powers that he blocked."
The back and forth came just hours before MPs are set to vote on the Government's Rwanda Bill this evening.
There are understood to be around 15 Conservative MPs willing to vote against the legislation so far, but this number could increase as the day goes on.
A total of 60 rebel MPs voted for right wing amendments to toughen up the legislation yesterday, but were voted down.
If just half of those MPs decide to vote against the Government's Bill, it could be defeated.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, ex-Business Secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and co-chairman of the New Conservatives Miriam Cates all indicated they would vote against the Government.
The eight MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party are also expected to vote against the Bill this evening.
While this evening's vote is not expected to be a confidence vote, if it gets voted down it is generally accepted that Sunak's ability to command the respect of his party would be in tatters.
As Sunak gears up for this evening's vote, it emerged that another five boats crossed the English Channel this morning, GB News can exclusively reveal.