Rwanda plan is at risk from Lef t-wing lawyers, says Boris
‘Lives put at risk by unscrupulous gangsters’
BORIS Johnson has attacked the ‘liberal-Left lawyers’ trying to block his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
As it emerged that almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel in three days this week, the Prime Minister conceded that ‘legal eagles’ were trying to thwart his controversial policy, but insisted: ‘We will get it done.’
But he faced a dire warning that unless the deportation flights start soon, the crisis will overwhelm the Government and cost the Tories the crucial Northern and Midlands seats that won them the last election.
There had been hopes that some of those hoping to reach the English coast by dinghy had been deterred by last month’s deal with Rwanda – under which illegal migrants will be put on oneway flights to East Africa – and the Royal Navy taking control of operations in the Channel.
For 11 consecutive days between April 20 and 30, not a single migrant or boat was detected crossing the strait of Dover. But then a drop in the wind over the weekend resulted in 696 arriving.
Downing Street has admitted it could be several months before any migrants are taken to Rwanda because of legal challenges from charities who say the plan breaches the refugee convention and human rights law.
It has also provoked condemnation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, while the UN refugee agency has claimed the scheme goes against international law.
Mr Johnson insisted it was ‘a great deal between two countries, each helping the other’. ‘Yes, of course, there are going to be legal eagles, liberalLeft lawyers, who will try to make this difficult,’ he said. ‘We always knew this was going to happen, but it is a very, very sensible thing.
‘If people are coming across the Channel illegally, and if their lives are being put at risk by ruthless and unscrupulous gangsters, which is what is happening – you need a solution.
‘And you need something that is going to say to those gangsters, “I’m sorry, but you can’t tell your customers, you can’t tell these poor people, that they’re just going to come to the UK, and they’re going to be lost in the system, because we’re going to find a way of making sure that they are going immediately to Rwanda”.’
The PM added: ‘I think that’s a humane, compassionate and sensible thing to do. I’m not going to pretend to you that it is going to be without legal challenges. I think I said that when I announced it, but we will get it done.’
Last week, charity Care4Calais, along with Detention Action, the PCS civil service trade union and law firm Duncan Lewis, wrote to the Government challenging the ‘reprehensible plan to send refugees to Rwanda’. The letter said: ‘Sending people to Rwanda is unlawful, as it would penalise asylum seekers on the grounds of their irregular entry, in direct contravention of the Refugee Convention.’
The total number of migrants who have arrived so far this year is 7,389 – more than a quarter of the 28,526 who arrived in 2021.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: ‘The Rwanda flights had better start soon. Otherwise the Government is going to be overwhelmed by this crisis.’