14 June 2024 , 19:32
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Rishi Sunak has warned that illegal migration is a “global emergency” as he touted agreement with G7 leaders to tighten their borders.
The PM sought to talk tough on migration at the summit in Italy on Friday as he lags in the opinion polls and faces a threat from the right from Nigel Farage ’s Reform UK. A joint statement from G7 said countries would work together to tackle migration in line with international law.
But it comes at odds with Mr Sunak’s hardline stance on migration. The Tory manifesto vows to work with other countries to “rewrite asylum treaties to make them fit for the challenges we face”.
Mr Sunak has also not ruled out quitting the European Convention on Human Rights - which the UK joined after the Second World War - if it threatens his long delayed Rwanda deportation scheme. At a press conference at the G7 summit in Italy, the PM said: “Illegal migration is now a global emergency.
“More people are moving across borders today than at any other time in history. We cannot stand by and watch this human tragedy unfold.”
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On the ECHR, he said: “If I'm forced to choose between security of our borders and our country and foreign courts including the ECHR,then I'm going to put our country’s security, your security first every single time.”
Mr Sunak is understood to have pushed for talks on migration at the G7, alongside his friend and ally, the hard-right Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. He gushed about his pal at the press conference, saying she was “lovely”.