Starmer will make Britain ‘the asylum capital of the World’
Labour to scrap Rwanda plan ‘straight away’ and fund smuggling unit if it wins election
SIR Keir Starmer will create a haven for people smuggling gangs if he wins power at the general election, the Home Secretary has warned.
James Cleverly said the Labour leader will make Britain the “asylum capital of the world”.
Sir Keir yesterday unveiled his plan to end the Channel migrant crisis by increasing MI5’s role in hunting criminal gangs and creating a new border security command.
He also confirmed the Rwanda deportation scheme, a key tactic to deter migrants from attempting to reach the UK, would be scrapped “straight away” if he becomes Prime Minister.
The pledge comes despite the Government revealing the first flight could take off in the week of June 24 – as first reported by the Daily Express – and some migrants admitting the threat of being sent to Kigali had led to them to flee the UK.
Mr Cleverly said: “Labour have no plan to stop the boats. Labour have an illegal immigration amnesty, Labour blocked the deportation of violent sexual offenders and Labour voted over 130 times against tougher legislation to stop the boats.
“They will create a haven for criminal gangs, not stop them. Even Labour MPs are saying Labour can’t be trusted to stop the boats, which shows you nothing will change.
“If people can apply for asylum from outside the UK, then unlimited claims can be made, many of which will have to be accepted under the law and, even then, many of those declined will then get on a small boat anyway.
“Labour’s announcement would make the UK the asylum capital of the world.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also criticised his rival’s plan. He said: “If you look at the reality of it, Keir Starmer’s idea on migration is to scrap our Rwanda plan and to offer an amnesty to illegal migrants.
And as far as I can tell, all the things that they are talking about today are all things that we’re already doing. “Crunching through the backlog, having more law enforcement officers do more. That’s all happening already. We’ve announced all of that more than a year ago.
“I think the question for Keir Starmer then is if he cares so much, why did he vote against the new laws that we passed to give our law enforcement officers new powers? They’ve now used those to arrest a thousand people connected with illegal migration, sentenced them to hundreds of years in prison. “And if it was up to him, all those would be out on our streets. I think that’s the rank hypocrisy of his position.
“And when it comes to illegal migration, it’s very simple, he’s just going to scrap the Rwanda plan and open up our borders.We’ve got a plan and we’re going to get planes off.”
The illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson said: “Labour would do a mass amnesty to let thousands of illegal migrants stay in this country. Labour would scrap the Rwanda scheme even though it is working, leaving nowhere to send people whose home country is unsafe.
“Labour would simply rebrand our Small Boats Operational Command, a dedicated unit of Border Force officers working closely with the military to stop the boats...expand our asylum
system to accept claims from outside the UK, meaning tens of thousands more claims. Labour won’t stop the boats. They want to stop the planes. They’ll take us back to square one.”
Sir Keir was joined by new Labour MP Natalie Elphicke during a visit to Dover yesterday, where he set out his party’s plans to tackle the small boats crisis. He is facing growing questions about where he would send failed asylum seekers if he scrapped the Rwanda scheme.
The Government is unable to send migrants to many of the countries where the largest cohorts of small boat arrivals come from due to fears they could be killed, tortured or falsely imprisoned. Sir Keir branded the Rwanda plan a “gimmick” and claimed only 1% of small boat arrivals would be sent to Kigali. He said: “We will cancel the scheme. We don’t think the policy is going to work and we think it costs a fortune.
“So, of course, that means we won’t operate the scheme at all. I am not interested. It is a gimmick. I am not going to flog a dead horse. We are going to get rid of the policy straight away. I am not going to continue a policy I don’t think is going to work.”
He added: “There will be no flights scheduled or taking off after the general election if Labour wins.”
Sir Keir admitted the Home Office would have nowhere to send thousands of migrants arriving from Afghanistan and Syria, due to the lack of a returns arrangement with the two war-torn countries. Sir Keir also conceded he would seek a new returns agreement with the EU, but ruled out joining the bloc’s migrant sharing deal. He told the Daily Express: “We don’t need a returns agreement to send people back to a safe country. Afghanistan is different, I accept that, as is Syria. But for many of these... you don’t need a returns agreement.”
Figures show 9,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel.
A source close to Mr Cleverly said: “Labour talk about sending people home with returns agreements, but can’t name a single country. Starmer’s ‘new plan’ is his old plan, which is no plan.”
Labour hopes intelligence officers will treat people smugglers like terrorists, tracing their movements, sources suggested.
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SIR Keir Starmer’s pledge to scrap the Rwanda scheme “straight away” if he wins the election will be welcomed by people smugglers.The plan to send migrants who come to the UK illegally to the African state will not stop small boat crossings overnight but it is a vital deterrent.
Everyone who is thinking of handing their family’s life savings to a criminal in exchange for a place on a dangerous dinghy needs to know that if you have no right to be here, you will not remain here.
Other European countries with migration crises of their own are watching the progress of the scheme with keen interest.
If Britain can establish a humane and efficient system for processing asylum claims offshore, then other nations will follow.To abandon the scheme in its infancy would be a colossal waste of precious cash that will leave taxpayers unimpressed. Sir Keir has pirouetted on his policy positions many times since arriving in Westminster.
We hope he U-turns again.