UNETHICAL & UNWORKABLE
Rwanda scheme blasted as Tories ‘play politics and chase headlines’
Tory plans to send the first asylum seekers to rwanda by the summer has been branded “unethical”.
The UK has paid £140million to the Rwandan government since last April – but the controversial partnership has not yet led to a single person moving there.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been visiting housing projects designed for migrants in capital Kigali over the weekend, in an attempt to get some positive coverage of the scheme.
Shadow Communities Secretary Lisa Nandy said that if Labour were in power they would use the money on a cross-border unit to target peopletrafficking instead.
Nandy accused the Government of “PR opportunities and photo ops”.
She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “This is just more stunts from this
Government. What they should be doing is what Labour has been calling for: take the money that is being spent on this unethical, unworkable scheme and put it into the National Crime Agency to create a cross-border cell to disrupt the criminal gangs who are profiting from people’s misery.”
Tory minister Oliver Dowden said the Government wants to “get cracking” on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. But he admitted he doesn’t “relish” sending kids abroad. He said: “I don’t relish any of this and I wish we didn’t have to do it. The Government is doing this because this is a major problem.”
When Braverman visited houses at the weekend, she bizarrely quipped: “These houses are really beautiful. Great quality, really welcoming and I really like your interior designer. I need some advice for myself.”
But her comments drew criticism from Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael. He said: “This is a new low for Suella Braverman. She has already wasted taxpayers’ money on this PR trip. Braverman is playing politics with people’s lives and chasing cheap headlines instead of doing her job properly.
“People are losing their lives on the Channel and all Braverman has in response is foul comments about interior design. What a disgrace.”
Put the money into disrupting the criminal gangs who are profiting from misery Lisa NaNdy on labour’s immigration plan
Labour’s former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott tweeted a picture of Braverman grinning in Kigali, adding: “Suella Braverman in Rwanda having a good laugh about all the asylum seekers that she is going to dump there.”
Defending the visit, Dowden said: “The purpose of the home secretary’s visit was to further strengthen our relationships with Rwanda, so people should feel confident in this policy.”
The plan– unveiled by Braverman’s predecessor, Priti Patel, last April – has been hit by legal challenges and is currently before the Court of Appeal.