STOP SMALL BOATS OR WE'RE SUNK

As poll shows support for Chancellor's tax cuts, worried Tory MPs insist more must be done and tell Rishi Sunak...

- David Williamson and Jonathan Walker

THE TORIES face electoral catastrophe unless it can stop migrant boats by polling day, its own MPs have warned.

While the Prime Minister received a boost after last week's tax-cutting measures, it is the failure to tackle migration which poses "an existential threat for the Tory party".

As net migration hit 745,000 last year, one MP said eight in 10 of the voters he speak with demand to know what is being done.

With time running out before the general election, Tories are becoming "completely disillusioned" by the lack of progress.

Ex-Brexit minister David Jones said: "These figures are extremely worrying. This is a large British city arriving in the country every year, without the infrastructure to accommodate it."

He added that it will be a "very big problem" if the Government does not stop the small boat crossings. It suffered a setback earlier this month when the courts ruled its Rwanda plan was unlawful.

PM Rishi Sunak said: "I need to finish the job and that means getting the Rwanda deal up and running. I'm prepared to do whatever is necessary to get that scheme operational." Work is underway on a new framework to make the proposals successful.

'We do need the deterrent of Rwanda'

Former chief secretary to the Treasury Sir Simon Clarke insisted he must ensure flights to Rwanda take off, despite the Supreme Court defeat.

He said: "It's impossible to overstate how important it is that the Government brings forward legislation that will actually resolve this situation and not a compromise based on fear of what may happen in the House of Lords."

Former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "The coalition of voters we had in 2019 voted for us in part because we would control legal and stop illegal migration.

"At the moment we're not doing either. It is really, really important the Government gets to grips with this."