Charities criticising Rwanda Bill given £200m in grants

THE government has given £209million to charities that lobbied the House of Lords to vote against the Rwanda bill, describing it as “deeply harmful” and setting a “dangerous precedent”.

On Monday, a group of 265 charities, focused largely on helping refugees and migrants, criticised the Government’s landmark legislation designed to stop the small boat crossings, claiming it represented a threat to “the universality of human rights”.

Analysis from the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a think tank dedicated to reducing migration, has found that since 2020, these charities have been awarded £209m in government grants and contracts.

In an open letter to the House of Lords, the charities urged peers to “reject the bill at the second reading”, saying that the government was carrying out “an attack on the constitutional role of the judiciary and the rule of law”.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill aims to prevent legal challenges to the Government’s deportation scheme by enshrining in law the safety of the country and its suitability as a destination for the processing of migrants that reached the UK illegally.

One charity that signed the letter, Freedom from Torture, describes the Rwanda plan on its website as an “inhumane cash-for-humans scheme”.

Since 2020 the charity has received more than £609,000 in public grants, which includes hundreds of thousands from the Ministry of Justice, and tens of thousands from Newcastle City Council and the Scottish government.

Another signatory of the letter was the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, despite having received more than £500,000 in taxpayers’ money since 2020.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Freedom from Torture has not been a recipient of funding for victims services from the department since July 2023. Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit has received about £500,000 from Government to help those engaging with the criminal justice system, with their accounts scrutinised to make sure money is used appropriately.

It came as small boat Channel crossings hit a record high for January, with 1,335 arrivals, compared to the previous high of 1,180 in 2022.