Rishi Sunak holds ‘spritz summit’ with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G20 as he aims to attract European support for his plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda

•  The Prime Minister met Giorgia Meloni at the G20 Summit in India
•  It was in a bid to forge Rwanda-style solutions to the migrant crisis

Rishi Sunak has held a ‘spritz summit’ with Italy’s prime minister to attract European support for his controversial policy of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda.

The Prime Minister met Giorgia Meloni at the G20 Summit in India to forge Rwanda-style solutions to the pan-continental migrant crisis.

The meeting has been dubbed the ‘spritz summit’ because Ms Meloni drank an Aperol spritz during the discussions, while teetotal Mr Sunak stuck to water. 

Mr Sunak and Ms Meloni share common ground in their determination to tackle illegal migration, with thousands of migrants arriving in Italy every day in the summer.

It came as Mr Sunak, who has faced criticism internationally for the policy, said other countries were planning to emulate the strategy. ‘Where Britain leads, others will follow,’ he said.

Rishi Sunak has held a ‘spritz summit’ with Italy’s prime minister to attract European support for his controversial policy of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda

The Prime Minister met Giorgia Meloni at the G20 Summit in India to forge Rwanda-style solutions to the pan-continental migrant crisis

Mr Sunak said: ‘Illegal migration will continue to be a growing topic for the world. She and I have a view… that this is an important topic that needs us to work together’

After meeting Mr Sunak, Ms Meloni said the aim had been to ‘intensify our bilateral co-operation’ on immigration.

Mr Sunak said: ‘Illegal migration will continue to be a growing topic for the world. She and I have a view… that this is an important topic that needs us to work together.’

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He said his Rwanda policy was vindicated after Austria urged the EU last week to use the UK model of processing claims in countries outside Europe. Denmark has also expressed interest.

Mr Sunak said: ‘This is a global issue. It will require global co-ordination to resolve.’ The Rwanda plan awaits a Supreme Court ruling over its legality.

In April, Ms Meloni defended it as a deal between two free nations to safeguard the safety of people.

The Government is attempting to secure more returns agreements with a number of countries, including Turkey, following a deal with Albania signed last December.

Yesterday, Mr Sunak also met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the G20 to strive for a stronger deal with Delhi over the issue.

The UK already has a returns agreement with India, but crossings by migrants from the country have risen over the past year.

It came as Mr Sunak failed yesterday to deny claims that he would cap benefit rises by removing the automatic link with inflation.

Following reports that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would no longer peg working-age benefits to September’s inflation figure, Mr Sunak would only say: ‘We’re always going to make sure we look after the most vulnerable in society.’

The Prime Minister said: ‘Benefits this year have gone up by 10 per cent which is a huge amount.’

Controversial green policies will not force British people to wear a ‘hairshirt’, Rishi Sunak promised yesterday.

With Tory MPs increasingly concerned about the vote-losing impact of policies such as the ban on petrol cars by 2030, the Prime Minister sought to play down the likely personal costs of the Government’s target of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions.

He said: ‘The net zero story for me shouldn’t be a hairshirt story of giving everything up and your bills going up. That’s not the vision of net zero that I think is the right one for the UK.’

Rishi Sunak yesterday failed to deny claims that he was planning to cap benefit rises by remove the automatic link to inflation.

Following reports that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would no longer peg working-age benefits to September’s inflation figure, Mr Sunak would only say that he could ‘reassure families that we’re always going to make sure that we look after the most vulnerable in our society’.

Following reports that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would no longer peg working-age benefits to September’s inflation figure, Mr Sunak would only say that he could ‘reassure families that we’re always going to make sure that we look after the most vulnerable in our society’

With September’s inflation figure is expected to be just below 7 per cent, compared to a projected 3.5 per cent next April when the benefit rise kicks in, Mr Hunt is understood to be considering lifting benefits by at least one percentage point below inflation or raising them in line with projected lower inflation figures for next year.

The Prime Minister said: ‘Benefits this year have gone up by 10 per cent which is a huge amount, obviously. On average that would be about £600 for a typical person on Universal Credit, over £800 pounds for the state pension. By historical standards, 10 per cent is a significant increase.’

He added: ‘Those are the existing government policies, it wouldn’t be for me to speculate on future things. But I can make sure that as I have done consistently throughout my time as Chancellor and indeed as Prime Minister, we’ve always made sure that we’ve had support in place to help the most vulnerable. From the furlough scheme through to the cost of living support that we’ve put in place recently.’

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