Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, criticised the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation scheme, labelling it as an unprecedented waste of public funds, reportedly costing the UK a staggering £700 million in spite of only four volunteers being sent to Kigali. She likened the system created by the previous administration to an ‘asylum Hotel California’, where individuals enter but never depart.
In her address to Parliament on Monday, Ms Cooper stated the Conservatives had allocated a daunting budget of over £10 billion during a six-year span to execute the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP). She cautioned the high rate of small boat crossings in the English Channel could continue throughout the summer, largely due to ineffective border control, a problem she claims was left over by the predecessor administration.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed her stand, affirming their government’s plans to terminate the scheme. Both regarded it as a political stunt, a claim vehemently denied by the Tories who maintain it discouraged unlawful crossings.
Two and half years subsequent to the scheme’s inception by the Conservative government, Ms Cooper announced, it had burdened the UK taxpayers with an expenditure of £700 million to send out a mere four volunteers within the framework of the MEDP project. She indicated the previous government had intended to expend over £10 billion of the taxpayer’s money over the MEDP duration of six years, a fact that was concealed from parliament.
She further elaborated on the costs, including a £290 million payment to Rwanda, chartering non-departing flights, and the needless detention and subsequent release of hundreds of people.
Ms Cooper voiced concerns over limited collaboration with European police and stressed the need to tackle human trafficking at source – long before migrant boats reach the shores of France. The Home Secretary also brought attention to legal ambiguities within the Illegal Migration Act, asserting that decisions regarding individual cases cannot be made if they arrived post-March 2023 and met certain criteria within the law.
“It’s the most peculiar policy that I’ve ever come across. We’ve found ourselves in an asylum system resembling a “Hotel California” – once individuals enter, they seem to never depart. The policy of the previous administration operated as a de facto amnesty, something I firmly believe is inappropriate,” she addressed Parliament members.
Immediate termination of the partnership could potentially save the designated £750 million for the scheme this year, Ms Cooper proposed. She suggested that a portion of the funds could be deployed to align with Labour’s novel border security command.
However, James Cleverly, the Shadow Home Secretary, has countered her claims, criticising her for generating concocted figures and condemning the national government for demonstrating “disrespect” to the Rwandan administration.
According to information from the Home Office, nearly 1,500 migrants had set foot in the UK, traversing the Channel on minor boats within a span of a week.
From 15th to 21st July, approximately 1,499 people made the precarious journey across 27 boats. Meanwhile, the French coastguard reported that two individuals lost their lives during rescue operations off the coast of northern France. – PA