The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, earlier this week announced a pioneering, world’s first deal between the United Kingdom and Rwanda that delivers on the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto promise to curb illegal immigration. The plan will see economic migrants who have arrived here through illegal channels and wrongly claiming asylum status resettled in Rwanda. While many wish to depict this policy as being cruel and inhumane, this policy has been built to support economic migrants who arrive through legal channels and those genuinely fleeing persecution.
As part of the UK Government’s ‘New Plan for Immigration’, the scheme itself focuses on deterring economic migrants taking the illegal and life-threatening journey in small boats to cross the English Channel and wrongfully claiming asylum. This will be done by processing asylum applications in Rwanda, with those deemed to be genuine asylum seekers provided with five years of training to help with integration. The policy is only applicable to adult males who have crossed the border illegally as, according to official Home Office statistics, last year over 90 percent of those who crossed the channel illegally were males, who were most often economic migrants.
Announcing the policy, Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose grandparents were themselves, economic migrants, said:
“The global migration crisis and how we tackle illegal migration requires new world-leading solutions. There are an estimated 80 million people displaced in the world and the global approach to asylum and migration is broken. Evil people smugglers and their criminal gangs are facilitating people into Europe, resulting in loss of life and huge costs to the UK taxpayer. The tragic loss of life of people in the Channel and the Mediterranean at the hands of these evil smugglers must stop. And today, our approach as two outward-looking countries has led to the signing of a new international partnership – which is a world first. It is a migration and economic development partnership with the country of Rwanda and the UK. This will see some of those arriving illegally in the UK, such as those crossing the channel in dangerous small boats, relocated to Rwanda to resettle and rebuild their lives.”
The opposition has called this policy cruel and inhumane, but that could not be further than the truth. It is not inhumane to provide migrants and asylum seekers with a room with two double beds, a balcony and three meals a day while their application is being processed. What is cruel is to do nothing and continue to allow evil people smuggling gangs to take advantage of those in a desperate situation and risk the lives of tens of thousands of people. The purpose of this policy is to deter those considering coming to the UK in illegal ways, and ensuring that the benefits never outweigh the risks.
The Conservative Party needs to work twice as hard to show the electorate that we are a party that has compassion and respects the dignity of immigrants and refugees. We are the party that created the ‘Homes for Ukraine scheme’, providing safe access to over 25,000 Ukrainian women and children fleeing the Russian War. Indeed, we are the party that stood up to China and created a new immigration route for Hong Kong’s citizens fleeing oppression, with a path to gaining British Citizenship. The UK-Rwanda deal is yet another example of our party’s desire to create a British immigration and asylum system that is fair and compassionate, ensuring that those who flee persecution can reach safety without risking their lives; and ensuring that Britain still welcomes the brightest and the best the world has to offer in terms of economic migration.