Critics of asylum deal offer no alternative
Tomorrow the first asylum seekers selected for relocation to Rwanda are due to be flown out of the UK. It is not yet certain this will happen. A legal challenge last week was unsuccessful, but an appeal is expected to be heard today that might well stay the Government’s hand. A full court hearing on the legality of the policy is due next month.
This was never going to be anything other than a controversial approach. When it was first announced in April it was variously denounced as “inhumane” and “evil”.
It was reported at the weekend that the Prince of Wales privately condemned it as “appalling”, though he would be wise to keep such opinions to himself given their political impact. He is also due to represent the Queen at the forthcoming Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital.
This is not the first time Rwanda has been asked to take in refugees. The EU backed a scheme to send hundreds of asylum seekers trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to the African country in 2019.
Telegraph reporters who have investigated how they have fared found they had been left in a “traumatising” poverty-stricken limbo for years, barely able to afford clothes and constantly in fear of the country’s brutal security forces.
If this policy is not to be seen as callous it is essential the Government ensures those sent to Rwanda are properly looked after, as their High Commissioner insists they will be on these pages.
Legal challenges were always likely and indeed expected by ministers, but this is being brought by the union representing Border Force staff, whose job is to implement government policy not seek to undermine it. The union says the Government should not ask its staff to undertake what might be an illegal action.
But of itself the criticism is misplaced. The existing system is a lottery that rewards those willing to pay people traffickers substantial amounts to bring them to Britain often by the most risky means imaginable.
If it is common political ground that there should be controls on economic migration, with protections for those genuinely fleeing persecution, then critics need to come up with an alternative that will discourage the thousands preparing to take to small boats this summer to make the perilous journey across the Channel.