We’re fast approaching the 2-year anniversary of the Rwanda asylum plan. In that time the British government has spent hundreds of millions of pounds, booked out thousands of hotel rooms and made dozens of promises but has still failed to deport a single asylum seeker to East Africa. 

For months it has been clear that the government is trying to be too clever by half. The various pieces of legislation needed to enforce the plan have been battered around by amendments and court rulings. This means that, even if the Safety of Rwanda Bill were to find its way onto the statue book before the general election, there would be countless loopholes open to exploitation by canny left-wing law firms. 

Moreover, it is hard to see how the policy will have any deterrent effect on the young men crossing the channel. Whereas tens of thousands of men break into Britain each year, capacity only exists to process a few hundred individuals. The huge pay offs of making it onto British shores certainly continue to justify the infinitesimal risk. Besides, even if someone were to be sent to Rwanda, they would be given a £3000 bung to sweeten the deal. 

Of course we’ve been assured by the Home Secretary and Prime Minister that voters – who want to see a complete end to illegal migration – will be satisfied with the results. 

But these promises should be treated with scepticism. The government in Kigali are now saying that there might need to be delays so that the whole system can be tinkered with, and the processing facilities be brought up to scratch. And this comes on the back of Transport Secretary, Mark Harper being unable to give a guarantee on the Sunday morning broadcast round, that we can expect to see anything happen before the election. 

This, more than anything, sums up Rishi Sunak’s handling of the problem. A plan that was always unlikely to work – was opposed by a small cabal of left-wing barristers, politicised CofE bishops, and taxpayer funded campaign groups – is now also being hamstrung by incompetent bureaucratic systems.

Robert Bates is the Director of Research at the Centre for Migration Control