Why British Prime Minister Sunak must act quickly

Home Secretary Suella Braverman

The politician belongs to the right wing of the Tories and is known for her harsh immigration policy.

(Photo: AP)

In his inaugural speech last week, the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged “integrity, professionalism and responsibility”. A few days later, the new government finds itself in its first crisis because Interior Minister Suella Braverman violated all three of the prime minister’s premises.

As a reminder, Braverman had recently resigned as Home Secretary under Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, for leaking government information through her private email address, in violation of ministerial regulations.

The new prime minister nevertheless appointed the politician from the right wing of the Conservative Party, known for her harsh immigration policies, to the new government because she had previously supported Sunak in the party’s internal race for the top job.

In the meantime, it has not only become known that Braverman sent official documents illegally to friends of the party via her private e-mail account in five other cases. That alone would justify her resignation.

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The Home Secretary is also accused of deliberately contributing with her restrictive policy to overcrowding in a center for asylum seekers in Kent, which led to inhumane conditions.

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Braverman had already fueled the dispute over the admission of refugees in Great Britain with nasty statements: It was her “dream and her obsession” that asylum seekers would be brought to Rwanda by plane, she had declared at the Tory party conference in September. On Monday she added to the House of Commons again and spoke of an “invasion” of refugees who came by boat, mainly from France across the English Channel.

The dispute over immigration policy not only threatens to tear apart the Conservative Party, but could also pose a serious problem for Sunak’s government. The primary concern is how to deal with boat people, who often cross the Channel to Great Britain for economic reasons.

The plan to immediately fly refugees to Rwanda was thwarted by the European Court of Human Rights in the summer. Braverman therefore wants Great Britain to repeal the European Convention on Human Rights.

Equally politically sensitive, however, is the question of how far Great Britain intends to open up to urgently needed skilled workers from abroad in order to improve its growth opportunities. Sunak and the British economy need the talent, Braverman also wants to reduce the number of legal immigrants. For political reasons, the new prime minister would therefore be well advised to part with his controversial interior minister.

More: Sunak’s cabinet stands – eleven members of the Truss government resign

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