British PM candidates pledge to crack down on illegal immigration

LONDON: On Sunday, both the two candidates running to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister of Great Britain pledged to make stopping illegal immigration a top priority.

They also supported the government's plan to transfer migrants to Rwanda. After a backlash against Johnson's scandal-plagued administration pushed the prime minister to announce his resignation, former finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss are vying to become Britain's next leader.

The timing of any tax reduction has been a point of contention between the two contenders as Britain deals with rising prices, sluggish growth, and an increasing number of strikes. After Truss led polls of the Conservative Party members who will choose their new leader and the British prime minister, with the decision expected on September 5, Sunak on Saturday referred to himself as "the underdog." Both candidates outlined their plans on Sunday to continue the government's policy of deporting illegal immigrants to Rwanda, despite the European Court of Human Rights' last month's decision to stop the first deportation flight.

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Truss, who is seen to be the favourite to win the leadership race, stated that she would seek out additional "third country processing partnerships like Rwanda," which would boost the British Bill of Rights and enhance the border force by 20%. In prior leadership ballots, Sunak, who received support from the majority of Conservative lawmakers, declared that he would consider illegal immigration as "one of five major emergency responses" he would address in his first 100 days as prime minister.