Sunak accused of ‘betrayal’ by Jenrick over plan to pay migrants to leave UK for Rwanda
THE former immigration minister has warned that “symbolic flights” of people being paid to leave the UK would not be enough to deter illegal immigration across the Channel as they are no deterrent to further small boat crossings.
Robert Jenrick said such flights could even be counterproductive in using up “finite resources” on Rwanda that will be needed to forcibly deport migrants.
His comments come after the disclosure of a new voluntary scheme aimed at removing thousands of migrants whose asylum claims have been rejected. It will be open to people who have no right to remain in the UK but cannot return to their own country owing to safety concerns.
It is separate to the stalled deportation scheme under which migrants arriving in the UK illegally will be deported to Rwanda or their home country. That has been blocked since June 2022 by legal challenges which new legislation currently before Parliament aims to overcome.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill, which is designed to secure the deportation flights, returns to the Commons next week when the Government will reverse Lords amendments in a pingpong battle to get the Bill into law.
Government sources said the new scheme would help tackle the £8million cost of housing migrants in hotels.
It is understood that officials have already started contacting prospective failed asylum seekers, with the intention of a flight within the next two or three weeks.
Mr Jenrick quit the Cabinet after failing to toughen up the new Rwanda Bill. Along with Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, he had proposed a five-point plan to end the deadlock over the policy which included opting out of European and UK human rights laws.
He said: “The Government has tacitly conceded that, unlike our plan, their Bill doesn’t give them the legal powers required to enforce mass removals of illegal migrants to Rwanda.
“So, instead, they will attempt to pay those who have flagrantly broken our laws to leave the UK. It’s a betrayal of the original intent of the Rwanda scheme, which was to create a robust and sustainable deterrent.
“Symbolic flights of people being paid to leave isn’t a strategy to stop the boats and end this national security emergency.
“If the reports are accurate, these voluntary returns would consume Rwanda’s finite resources and make the swift, enforced removal of small boat arrivals required to establish the intended deterrent effect much harder.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “This seems to be a desperate, last-ditch attempt to make the Government’s Rwanda plan look like it’s going to work, and a reminder that the whole scheme is unviable, costly and inhumane.”