Boris Johnson fires back at claims he is responsible for migrant crisis

Boris Johnson has defended his record in immigration amid claims of a so-called “Boriswave”. Johnson, speaking on the Daily T podcast, took a thinly-veiled dig at his successor Rishi Sunak and lamented the failure to establish deportations to Rwanda as being responsible for the current migrant crisis.

The former prime minister suggested Sir Keir Starmer should consider reviving the failed plan as he accused Sunak of overseeing the continual surge in the number of people entering the UK. He told the Telegraph: “My mandate was to take back control and that’s what I did. I also think that Rwanda was the right policy.

“Rwanda was the only way to get people back. I don’t know why we didn’t implement Rwanda. Why did we go to the country before we got that done?

“It was a mistake. That was and is a very good policy, it would have fixed the small boats thing. If you look at what Starmer is doing – that would have got it done.”

He added: “I left office in 2022. The Government then had two years to run. And in that period, I’m afraid, absolutely nothing was done to point out what we’d already achieved: the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, coming out of lockdown faster than any other European country, delivering Brexit in its entirety, helping to protect the independence of a free European country.

“Nobody said anything about that because they were all too busy campaigning on compulsory maths A-level and banning cigars.”

Last month, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage blamed the former PM for an increase in net migration, labelling it the “Boriswave”.

According to official statistics between June 2020 and June 2023 (when net migration peaked), net migration rose from 111,000 to 906,000. Over the same period, non-EU net migration rose from 115,000 to 954,000. Estimated emigration for non-EU was broadly unchanged over the period, so the rise was driven by immigration.

The issue of immigration is often given as a significant factor behind the Conservative Party’s humiliating defeat in the 2024 general election and has contributed to a rise in popularity for Reform UK.

Mr Johnson blamed the system he inherited, insisting that his government did not know how many people were coming in or had already arrived.

He added: “We didn’t know how many EU students had come back. We didn’t know how many people were going to take up either the Ukrainian scheme or the Hong Kong scheme. And those numbers were very high, but we now have a system that enables us to have zero that was not legally possible before.

“Whatever you say about the government I lead, I make two points: we restored full democratic legal control over our laws and our borders. And if the people choose, we can have zero immigration into the UK.

“Under the previous dispensation, it was impossible for the British government to stop anybody coming in and living in the UK from the entire EU where I think you got about 450 million people.”