Priti, take pity on the desperate

Priti Patel’s latest plan for refugees has been described as unworkable, ill-thought-out and possibly illegal. But the Government is pressing ahead with it, and soon we could be sending refugees to Rwanda.

The scheme provoked an outcry as soon as it was revealed, attracting cross-party condemnation and the derision of experts.

Some would say that’s what it was there for – to distract from the PM’s current crisis with Partygate and the slump in the polls.

Others say it has been coming for months. Whatever. It’s a scheme that the more you examine it, the crueller and more harebrained it looks.

Two-thirds of the people who flee to our shores are escaping conflicts. Just look at the photos in today’s paper.

DESPERATE

We see a lot of pictures like this, and it’s easy to become cynical. But seeing babies rescued from the sea is something desperate.

That’s why, when we talk about refugees, everyone involved needs to be treated with compassion. They are desperate, vulnerable and at the limit of what they can take.

Shipping people thousands of miles is not what they need. They need care.

At the Rwandan end of the scheme, the misery continues. Incredibly, as we reveal today, the building our asylum seekers are to be housed in is home to dozens of war victims – and they’re being kicked out.

People scarred by genocide are being forced to leave to make way for refugees we are sending.

These are people’s lives. People who have been through the very worst trauma, who thought they had a home.

The truth is that in dusty rooms in Whitehall, they are nothing more than pieces on a chessboard. But this is no game. It’s time to think again and deal with the problem humanely.

Crack down on smuggling gangs, process applications faster, open more routes.

Whatever you do, Home Secretary, before you start, try to find some compassion. Even a sliver would help.