I’ll cancel Rwanda flights on first day as PM
Labour leader vows to get rid of unworkable gimmick and use cash on MI5 gang-busters
KEIR Starmer has vowed to cancel the Rwanda scheme on his first day as PM, as he blasted the Tories over the borders fiasco.
The Labour leader pledged to end Channel crossings, warning no one should be making that perilous journey.
He added that he would stop wasting cash on deportation flights and instead spend it on smashing smuggling gangs.
Starmer said the Tories’ £500milllion plan is not a deterrent as just 1 per cent of small boat arrivals will be deported. He added: “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 that is going to cost a fortune.” More than 8800 people have arrived on boats this year, up 32 per cent on 2023. Yesterday Starmer outlined his plan for a new unit involving MI5 that will take on smuggling gangs. He said asylum claims would be processed quickly and humanely. But those not entitled to be in the UK would be removed by working with other countries, including EU nations. The first deportation flight is due to take off for Rwanda in the final week of June, according to government papers released yesterday. It will be more than two years after the scheme was first promised by Boris Johnson.
Starmer gave a speech in Dover, Kent, where local MP Natalie Elphicke this week defected from the Tories.
She accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of failing to keep our borders safe.
Asked if the defection showed he was ruthless, Starmer told Sky News: “I’m ruthless in trying to ensure we have a Labour government who can change this country for the better.”