This week, the Prime Minister revealed his latest gimmick: his new Rwanda treaty.
This failing scheme will send taxpayer money to Rwanda, refugees from Rwanda to Britain, and won’t deter channel crossings. When the Tories first announced this scheme, they promised Rwanda would settle “tens of thousands of people”. The Court of Appeal has now made it clear there’s housing for just 100.
What’s more, without having sent a single asylum seeker to Rwanda, the cost for taxpayers has shot up to an astronomical £290 million. This is just shocking.
It’s clear that the Rwanda scheme is a total farce. Eventually the Tories will realise that the only way to stop boat crossings is to adopt Labours plan, by using British policing and British intelligence to smash the gangs trafficking people across the Channel.
Labour has a five-point plan to reform the asylum system. We will:
1. Crackdown on criminal smuggler gangs, through a new Cross-Border Police Unit and deeper security cooperation with Europe
2. End hotel use, clear the Tory asylum backlog, and speed up returns to safe countries
3. Reform resettlement routes to stop people being exploited by gangs
4. New agreement with France and other countries on returns and family reunion
5. Tackle humanitarian crises at source helping refugees in their region
