Wednesday, May 01, 2024
Tory Rwanda flop?
Putting aside the immoral nature of the very idea of sending refugees fleeing war and famine to an unsafe country with a dodgy humn rights record, and ignoring for now the near half a billion pound cost of sending migrants to Rwanda, money that could be used to fix the asylum system, what could possibly go wrong with the Tory's big idea?
Well, for a start, getting the policy off the starting blocks is not exactly easy. Today's Independent for example, reports that finally, the first failed asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda, but he had to be bribed with £3,000 to agree to go. Others may not be so willing, especially with the prospect of further court challenges in the air.
More fundmamentally, the Mirror tells us that thousands of asylum seekers who have been earmarked by the Home Office for deportation to Rwanda have just vanished. Quelle surprise!
They say that a document published on Monday revealed that out of 5,700 people identified for removal, 2,145 "continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention", but it concedes that the Government doesn't know where over half of them are:
Last week the PM said he hopes to start sending people to Rwanda in July after the Safety of Rwanda Act passed into law. The legislation was designed to narrow the grounds of legal challenge.
But the Home Office impact assessment also acknowledges there could be further delays to deportations caused by MPs making last-minute representations to suspend removals. This is because of the long-standing parliamentary convention whereby removals can be suspended until a case has been considered and a response issued to the MP.
The assessment says that given the "novel nature" of the scheme, "we may expect future (Migration and Economic Development Partnership) cases to attract significant attention from MPs, and responders may be overwhelmed by cases, causing a delay or removal to be cancelled pending a response."
In the meantime, an Irish High Court has ruled that the UK is no longer a "safe third country" for returning asylum seekers because of the Rwanda plan, while the latest Home Office figures show that more than 7,000 asylum seekers have arrived on small boats so far this year - a new record for the first four months of a calendar year.
It's not going well for Rishi Sunak's immigration policy.
Well, for a start, getting the policy off the starting blocks is not exactly easy. Today's Independent for example, reports that finally, the first failed asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda, but he had to be bribed with £3,000 to agree to go. Others may not be so willing, especially with the prospect of further court challenges in the air.
More fundmamentally, the Mirror tells us that thousands of asylum seekers who have been earmarked by the Home Office for deportation to Rwanda have just vanished. Quelle surprise!
They say that a document published on Monday revealed that out of 5,700 people identified for removal, 2,145 "continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention", but it concedes that the Government doesn't know where over half of them are:
Last week the PM said he hopes to start sending people to Rwanda in July after the Safety of Rwanda Act passed into law. The legislation was designed to narrow the grounds of legal challenge.
But the Home Office impact assessment also acknowledges there could be further delays to deportations caused by MPs making last-minute representations to suspend removals. This is because of the long-standing parliamentary convention whereby removals can be suspended until a case has been considered and a response issued to the MP.
The assessment says that given the "novel nature" of the scheme, "we may expect future (Migration and Economic Development Partnership) cases to attract significant attention from MPs, and responders may be overwhelmed by cases, causing a delay or removal to be cancelled pending a response."
In the meantime, an Irish High Court has ruled that the UK is no longer a "safe third country" for returning asylum seekers because of the Rwanda plan, while the latest Home Office figures show that more than 7,000 asylum seekers have arrived on small boats so far this year - a new record for the first four months of a calendar year.
It's not going well for Rishi Sunak's immigration policy.
