The Rwanda plan is utterly preposterous

IN today’s paper you publish a letter from Mike Jackman, who is in favour of sending refugees to Rwanda. I sent the following letter to my MP, Simon Jupp, a week ago, but have yet to have an answer. Perhaps if you could publish it for me in your letters page, he may feel inclined to answer. The letter reads...

I have waited a couple of days since the news about offloading refugees to Rwanda broke as I was waiting for the Government to realise that this utterly preposterous and immoral plan was a complete travesty. But I am still waiting and, according to some Tories, it seems to be considered a good plan.

This is pandering to the far right, to racist hatred of foreigners which the Tory government has been supporting ever since they gave in to UKIP and allowed the Brexit referendum to take place.

The language used is reminiscent of the Nazis. This is not a comparison I use lightly but the talk of forcible resettlement is familiar. As I am sure you are aware, the Madagascar plan was a proposal by the Nazis to relocate Jews to Madagascar.

This monstrous plan of holding refugees offshore has been tried

in Australia, another right-wing country. It was a total failure and has been condemned by the United Nations as a cruel, costly and ultimately futile system.

I hold no truck with the criminals charging absurd amounts to bring refugees to this shore, but this is most definitely not the answer. It is cruel and inhumane. Why does the Government refuse to accept the French offer of running reception centres on French soil?

Please do not say that these refugees are entering the country illegally unless you can show me what the legal ways are to reach Britain? The plans for Afghans and Ukrainians certainly aren’t working.

I speak as the daughter of a refugee who came to this country in 1940 with her Belgian mother, her sister and best friend, who happened to be Bulgarian and Jewish. I dread to think what would have happened had they not been allowed to land from their boat but sent to Rwanda instead. As my MP, I trust you will be doing everything in your power to ensure that this inhumane plan never comes to fruition.

Emma Grainger Ottery St Mary, Devon