Rudd attacks 'baffling' and unrealistic small boat plan

Former Conservative home secretary Amber Rudd has called the government’s new small boats law “baffling” and accused her successor of making promises that “can’t be delivered”.

- LIZZIE DEARDEN

The ex-MP, who led the Home Office between 2016 and 2018, told an event in London: "Stop the boats - really? How? When? [They] promise things that can't be delivered and people get irritated and run out of patience." Ms Rudd, who stood down as an MP after Boris Johnson became prime minister, accused the government of "not being frank and straight with the British people" about what was possible. "In terms of the current plans, I find it baffling that the home secretary is proposing legislation which she admits is probably illegal," she added.

The former MP said that small boat crossings had started rising during her last year as home secretary, but that officials believed at the time that dinghies were "much too dangerous" to be widely used.

Ms Rudd told an event hosted by the Reform think tank that under Theresa May's government, ministers would "get out the map to find out where people were coming from in northern France".