Rishi Sunak
Prime Minister · 2022–2024
In one sentence
Held office at the 944,000 peak. Passed two enforcement Acts. Never got a Rwanda flight off the ground.
Sunak inherited Johnson's visa regime and the boats. Peak net migration — 944,000 in the year to March 2023 — landed on his watch. He did two real things: the Illegal Migration Act and the Safety of Rwanda Act, and, in early 2024, a genuine visa squeeze (care and student dependants banned, salary threshold up). Those 2024 rules are the main reason the numbers later fell. He also spent hundreds of millions on Rwanda and removed four volunteers. The Supreme Court, Strasbourg, the Lords, and then Labour finished the deterrent before it started. Fair reading: he tightened legal routes late; he failed on illegal entry.
Stop the boats.
What they did
YE Mar 2023
The peak
ONS: 944,000 net. Care workers, students, dependants, plus humanitarian schemes. A policy outcome, not a weather event.
2023
Illegal Migration Act
Duty to remove illegal arrivals. Never fully commenced. Labour tore the core out in 2025.
Jan–Apr 2024
Rwanda Act
Passed 320–276 after a Tory right rebellion that said the bill was too weak. Royal Assent 25 April. No flights.
Early 2024
The visa squeeze that worked
Dependants banned for care workers and most students; skilled-worker threshold raised to £38,700. Oxford's Migration Observatory later said the 2025 fall was 'largely driven' by these Conservative rules, which Labour kept.
How they voted
Blocked it / opened it means they voted against tighter rules, or for the Human Rights Act. Backed it means they voted for a tightening bill.
| Bill | What they did | Note |
|---|---|---|
NABA 2022 2022 | Backed it | Chancellor, government aye. |
IMA 2023 2023 | Backed it | His government bill. |
Rwanda Act 2024 2024 | Backed it | His government bill, 320–276. |
Sources: ONS YE Mar 2023; Hansard; Migration Observatory 2026 commentary