Rishi Sunak's small boat project suffers another blow as Interior Ministry deems Turkey unsafe

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Rishi Sunak's promise to stop boats carrying migrants across the Channel is once again under threat as the Home Office appears concerned about makes Turkey a safe country.

The move jeopardizes the prime minister's hopes of striking a return deal with Ankara, as officials say Turkey is "overzealous" in its anti-terrorism laws and its trials are unfair. There are also allegations of torture in the justice system.

Three thousand Turkish nationals arrived by small boat in the UK last year, the third largest nationality and more than double the number of the previous year.

Rishi Sunak faced considerable intra-party discord over his failure to control the small boat crisis

But today the plans face a major setback, as an internal Interior Ministry study reportedly described Turkey as "a state that does not meet the criteria of being 'generally safe'” and questioned his compliance. with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which, according to the Ministry of the Interior, could raise “questions about respect for the rule of law”.

The audit could give Sunak's right-wing colleagues even more ammunition to push the UK to leave the ECHR and strengthen provisions in the Rwanda Bill aimed at ignoring court orders which override British government policy.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the Home Office's decision as "very concerning".

Posting on sic], member of the Council of Europe, member of NATO, ally and candidate country for EU membership. The government should rethink this decision."

The Times reports that officials are considering the possibility of another treaty – similar to the Rwa...