TORY candidate vying to return as Bracknell's MP James Sunderland has spoken out about calling his government’s flagship Rwanda policy “crap”.

A recording passed to the BBC over the weekend hears Mr Sunderland say to a Young Conservatives event: “The policy is crap, OK? It’s crap.” He then went on to defend the plan, saying that 'it’s not about the policy. It’s about the effect of the policy'.

When asked about the leak on a BBC Berkshire ‘Your voice, your vote’' show on Tuesday morning, he said that the remark 'was a reflection at that point in time of where that policy was'.

He explained: “In the context of that private function on April 2, at that point in time, the Rwanda policy was not fully viable.”

Mr Sunderland had worked on the policy for two years as parliamentary private secretary for the Home Secretary, James Cleverly.

In early April, the government faced opposition over their plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda from both the Labour opposition and the European Court of Human Rights.

He told BBC Berkshire that he had done 'a lot of work since then to make sure the plan does work'.

The government then passed the Rwanda Safety Bill on April 22, which confirmed in law that Rwanda is a safe third country.

Since the leak, he claimed many people had thanked him for “saying it how it is”, claiming voters want “authentic politicians.”

The conservative candidate was joined by Labour’s Peter Swallow and Liberal Democrat Katie Mansfield. Responding to Sunderland’s claim that Labour wanted to open the country’s borders, Peter Swallow said: “Your party has been in government for 14 years and we have seen the immigration for this country triple since Brexit, under your party.”

He explained Labour’s position on the small boats problem: “We do not want open borders […] we have to have a sensible, workable immigration policy.”

Responding to Mr Sunderland’s leak, Lib Dem Katie Mansfield said: “I completely agree with James Sunderland that the Rwanda Policy is crap”, calling it “completely unworkable, inhumane, ineffective”.

She said the Liberal Democrats would tackle illegal migration crossings by investing in better processing and border police forces. They would work closely with French authorities to “stop it at the source point.”

The Home Secretary, who appeared on BBC’s ‘Sunday with Laura Kussenberg’ show this weekend, defended Mr Sunderland as merely trying to “shock and grab the attention of the audience”.