New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scrapping the Rwanda deportation plan by the previous Conservative government, saying its policy to keep irregular migration at bay has had the โcomplete opposite effect.โ
Newly-electedย United Kingdomย Prime Ministerย Keir Starmerย on Saturday declared a controversial plan by the ousted government to deport migrants toย Rwandaย โdead and buried.โ
Starmer, the leader of the center-left Labour Party, took office on Friday afterย winningย one of the largest parliamentary majoritiesย in modern British history duringย theย UK electionย a day earlier.
Theย 5-year Rwanda plan, costing 370 million pounds ($494 million, โฌ437 million), would haveย flown asylum seekersย to the central African country toย apply for refuge, rather than in Britain.
The scheme was widelyย denounced by rights groups and the public andย was evenย revised and resubmitted to parliamentย after theย Supreme Court ruledย it was unlawful.
What did Starmer say about ending the Rwanda plan?
The new prime minister told reporters at his London office that he was โnot prepared to continue with gimmicks that donโt act as a deterrent,โ referring toย the Rwanda plan.
He said the policy hasย โhad the complete opposite effect,โ as many thousands more migrants had arrivedย on Britainโs shores since itย was first mooted two years ago by the Conservative governmentย that left office on Friday.
โLook at the numbers [of migrants] that have come over [the English Channel] in the first six and a bitย months of this year, they are record numbers, that is the problem that we are inheriting,โ Starmer said.
UK Home Office (Interior Ministry) figures show some 12,300ย people have made the crossing from northern Franceย to Britain so far this year, an 18% riseย from the same period last year.ย Several people have diedย making the journey.
Britain has seen an 18% increase in migrants arriving from France on small boats across the English ChannelImage: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Starmer also said the Rwanda plan would have removed only about 1% of asylum seekers.
He added that legal holdups meant the โchances were of not going and notย being processed, and staying here, therefore, in paid-for accommodation for a very, very long time.โ
Previously, Starmer has saidย he would curb so-called small boat migration by hiring specialist investigators and using counterterrorism powers to โsmash the criminal gangsโ behind the flow of arrivals into the UK.
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