David Cameron was asked outright by a journalist if the government’s controversial Rwanda bill is a result of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Speaking shortly after parliament finally passed the legislation to deport asylum seekers to Africa on Monday night, the foreign secretary defended the policy – but dodged the questions about his main legacy, Brexit.

ITV News’ deputy political editor Anushka Asthana asked: “Hand on heart, if this had come up when you were PM, would you have gone for this policy?”

Cameron, who was in No.10 from 2010 to 2016, said: “Well, we had a totally different situation, because we had a situation where we could return people directly to France.

“Now I would love that to be the case again – that’s the most sensible thing.

“People land on a beach in Kent, you take them straight back to France, you therefore break the model of the people smugglers.”

“Shouldn’t you be trying to get that?” Asthana asked.

“Well, that’s not available,” the foreign secretary replied.

The journalist asked: “Because of Brexit?”

Cameron ended up resigning as prime minister in 2016 because his campaign to stay in the EU lost.

He did not answer Asthana directly and just said: “Well, because of the situation we’re in.”

The foreign secretary did not explain what he meant by that.

Rishi Sunak has also threatened to take the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights if its judges try to stop the Rwanda policy altogether.

Cameron told Asthana that the UK has to deal with illegal immigration, but added: “I don’t think it’s necessary to leave the ECHR, I don’t think that needs to happen to make this policy work.”