As Home Secretary Suella Braverman pledges that from today arriving small boat migrants will be detained and deported within 28 days it is worth reflecting that it’s been a year since the government announced their flagship plan to deal with people smuggling gangs by deporting migrants to Rwanda. At the time, Home Secretary Priti Patel said it would “put an end to this deadly trade in people smuggling“. Guido has taken the opportunity of its anniversary to crunch the numbers and has put together a handy graph. It doesn’t take a data wiz to see that the Rwanda plan has not, in fact, put an end to people smuggling.

The British taxpayers stumped up £140 million in February yet the scheme has yet to get off the ground comes despite multiple promises from leading government figures to the contrary. On its announcement in April of last year, Priti Patel pledged the scheme would make the immigration system “fairer”, in June she re-committed to the policy, adding preparations for “future flights” had “already begun”. In addition to saying sending immigrants to Rwanda was her “dream”, current Home Secretary Suella Braverman also said it would “break the business model” of people smugglers. Meanwhile Rishi’s repeated pledges to “Stop the Boats” have come alongside a commitment to “make our Rwanda policy work”. Not a single illegal migrant has been deported to Rwanda…