Nigel Farage Predicts Rwanda Migrant Scheme Will Sink Boris Johnson if the Boats Keep Coming

British politician Nigel Farage speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 202
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The apparent failure of the British government’s plan to send illegal boat migrants to Rwanda to act as a deterrent has the potential to destroy the electoral advantage Boris Johnson secured following Brexit, Nigel Farage has warned.

Despite some claims from the conservative commentariat, the announcement from the government of its intention to send boat migrants to the East African nation of Rwanda has so far not made illegals think better of attempting to cross the English Channel from France.

Indeed, while an 11-day pause in illegal crossings was witnessed following the announcement, it is now believed to have been a result of poor weather conditions, as the people-smuggling gangs resumed operations over the weekend, ferrying hundreds more into British waters, and taking the total to over 7,000 since the start of the year.

Brexit leader Nigel Farage, who was sceptical of the deterrence capability of the plan from the start, said that the flights “better start soon” or the government will be “overwhelmed by this crisis”.

Writing in The Telegraph on Wednesday, Mr Farage said: “Sadly, it does seem the Rwanda policy is about to rebound on the Government. Having raised expectations on an issue that provokes strong emotions, it is now clear that nothing will happen for months.”

The Brexiteer predicted that if the government fails to enact the policy soon and leave the European Court on Human Rights, then upwards of 100,000 illegals will cross the English Channel this year, over fifty times the numbers seen in 2019.

“To put that figure in perspective, towns like Becontree, Rochdale and Worcester each have about 100,000 inhabitants. It amazes me that any serious person could ever imagine that number of illegal immigrants arriving in such a short space of time is sustainable,” Farage said.

“There are one million households on the social housing list in the UK today – many of them in Red Wall seats. They cannot understand why Johnson isn’t doing more to help them,” he added.

Mr Farage, who reported live from a boat in the English Channel on Monday, released footage purporting to show illegal migrants tossing their phones into the water before being picked up by the British Border Force.

“Why would a genuine refugee do this? And why would they deliberately arrive with no documentation or any other means of identification?” Farage questioned.

“But we should all be worried about this trick – Boris Johnson in particular. His first duty is to protect British citizens. If just one of the thousands of young men arriving without documentation ever managed to threaten our national security, Johnson would have to resign,” he declared.

The Johnson administration has been plagued by scandal in recent months, with the Prime Minister personally being fined by police for breaching his own lockdown restrictions in a series of Downing Street parties, and the increasing cost of living crisis while the allegedly Conservative government has raised taxes to their highest threshold in decades — despite campaigning on lowering them.

So far Johnson has been able to fend off calls for him to resign, however, the forthcoming results of Thursday’s local elections could see his power — and ability to cling onto it — knocked considerably.

Nigel Farage’s successor as leader of the Reform UK party, Richard Tice has also warned that Johnson’s leftist Build Back Greener agenda could be the nail in the coffin for the government, should the cost of living and energy crises continue to grow.

Tice said last month that the issue “will become as big as Brexit or bigger,” in the coming months and years, saying: “It will be a seismic crisis for them because of what will happen to people’s bills.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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