Labour is PETRIFIED our Rwanda plan will work – & now flights are going they’re not smiling any more
LABOUR is “petrified” the Rwanda deportation plan is going to work because it has no answer when it comes to tackling illegal migration, James Cleverly has said.
The Home Secretary said Opposition MPs have stopped smiling as they can see the Rwanda scheme is “starting to have a deterrent effect”.
His blistering attack comes as footage released by the Home Office this morning shows the first migrants bound for Rwanda detained in raids by cops.
It was one of a series of operations that took place across the country over the last few days, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.
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Speaking on The Sun’s new politics show Never Mind The Ballots, Mr Cleverly said: “The Labour Party are petrified that this is going to work, which is weird because they claim to want to protect our borders.
“But you can see the joy in their faces whenever they thought it wasn’t gonna get through, when they thought the legislation was going to be blocked, you could see the grins on their faces.”
He added: “But actually now they’re seeing this is starting to be deployed, starting to have a deterrent effect already. Those grins are subsiding.
“And they’re really, really worried because it’s highlighting the fact they have no plan whatsoever.”
RWANDA PLAN IS FAR FROM DEAD & BURIED
By Jack Elsom, Chief Political Correspondent
LAST year it looked like the entire Rwanda plan was dead and buried – but not any more.
Footage of the first illegal migrants being detained is the most visible sign yet that ministers are serious about getting flights off the ground in July.
Albeit with their faces blurred, we have now seen the first asylum seekers who will be forcibly deported to Kigali.
Like or loathe the plan, but two years since it was first announced the prospect of removal flights to Rwanda now looks very real.
Yes, there will inevitably be an army of lawyers lining up to block the individuals being sent on the planes.
Time will tell whether the shiny new Rwanda legislation is sufficiently watertight for courts to throw out these claims.
Politically the timing is helpful for Mr Sunak, who heads into the local elections this Thursday looking for something to sell to voters.
And open up a clear dividing line with Labour who said they will scrap the plan.
Labour has said it would scrap the Rwanda scheme if it wins the next election.
But when asked several times whether the party would release those detained as part of the policy, Shadow Cabinet Minister Ellie Reeves struggled to give an answer.
She told the BBC: “We want to get people back to their own countries if their claims have failed which is why we would set up those return agreements and also recruit a thousand case workers.”
It was reported this week Labour may not abolish the policy immediately if it wins the next general election.
According to BBC former political editor Andrew Marr, some Labour figures are now admitting they may have to retain the scheme until the party can negotiate a new returns policy with the EU.
One Labour senior advisor is reported as saying: “We can’t just come in, tear it up, and have nothing to put in its place”.
This would represent yet another U-turn for the party as they had pledged to end the scheme within its first 100 days of Government.
A Labour spokesman today refused to comment on hypothetical scenarios but said those who have already been deported will remain in the African nation.
He remained vague about managing the influx of those who arrived to Britain illegally and could not say if the party has any plans for detention or processing.
The spokesman also said they would initially reject asylum claims but later contradicted himself insisting some might be considered.
The Rwanda deportation plan is yet to be tested, with the legislation aimed at making it legally sound, the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act, having passed into law just last week.
The Prime Minister said it will take between 10 and 12 weeks for deportation flights to Rwanda to begin, meaning they will not start until the summer.
FIRST ILLEGAL MIGRANTS BOUND FOR RWANDA DETAINED
Border cops today burst into homes in a series of immigration raids to stop asylum seekers from absconding ahead of deportation flights to Rwanda in July.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said the enforcement squads were “working at pace” to nab them – and released pictures and video of the stings.
Footage shows officers swooping on several addresses before leading illegal migrants into the back of a van in handcuffs.
It comes after The Sun exclusively revealed that the first migrant has already been sent to Kigali under the parallel voluntary scheme.
Mr Cleverly said: “Our Rwanda Partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it.
“Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.”
Ministers claim they have ramped up detention space to 2,200 to hold them and ensure they do not flee – as some have already done in anticipation of the scheme going live.
The Sun exclusively revealed the first migrant has already been sent to Kigali under the parallel voluntary scheme.
The unnamed migrant was flown out of the UK on Monday evening and was unpacking his bags for a new life in sunny Kigali yesterday.
It is the first time the government has ever relocated a failed asylum seeker to a third country in what ministers are hoping is the first of thousands.
After his bid to stay in Britain was rejected at the end of 2023, the man – who is of African origin – voluntarily accepted passage to a new life in the central African nation.
He was sent on a commercial flight and handed around £3,000 from the British taxpayer to help relocate under the terms of a deal with Rwanda.
The removal was part of a side scheme to the forced deportation of illegal immigrants policy that is set to begin flights in July.
But there were sighs of relief in Whitehall last night that the first removal and Rwandan processing went off without a hitch – in what planners have dubbed a “proof of concept” success.
A well-placed source said: “This proves it’s possible and legal for Britain to remove failed asylum seekers to Rwanda successfully and smoothly.”
What is the Rwanda plan and when will flights take off?
THE first migrant to be sent to Rwanda has gone voluntarily this week after their asylum claim failed.
Rather than being returned to their home country, they have opted to use a new Home Office scheme to start a new life in Kigali.
It is a parallel plan to Rishi Sunak’s flagship immigration one to physically deport illegal arrivals.
Under this policy, illegal migrants will have no choice about being deported to Rwanda. Here are the details…
What is the Rwanda plan?
Under the flagship immigration plan, anyone who arrives in Britain illegally will never have the right to remain permanently.
For those who cannot be returned to their home country, ministers plan to send them to Rwanda, a country in eastern Africa.
The government believes the threat of being removed to Rwanda will deter migrants from making the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats.
Once in Rwanda, their asylum claims will be processed but there is no route back to the UK, save for some exceptional circumstances such as individual safety concerns.
Britain will also pay for migrants to start a new life in Rwanda for the first five years.
What’s the hold up?
First announced by Boris Johnson in 2022, the scheme has been bogged down by relentless legal challenges.
The first flight was due to take off in the summer of that year, but was blocked on the runway at the last minute by a European Court order.
Since then the legality of the plan has been contested in the courts, culminating in a Supreme Court judgement in November last year which said Rwanda was unsafe for asylum seekers.
What is Sunak doing?
To salvage the Rwanda plan from the Supreme Court’s scathing ruling, Rishi Sunak has unveiled a two-pronged workaround.
First, he has signed a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for asylum seekers that have been enshrined in law.
Second, he has introduced new legislation that declares Rwanda a safe country.
It means courts, police and officials would have to treat Rwanda as safe and therefore throw out legal challenges to deportation.
He has given ministers the power to ignore European grounding orders to avoid a repeat of the 2022 runway fiasco.
When will flights take off?
Five months after the Supreme Court appeared to have sunk the Rwanda plan, it is now back on track.
Mr Sunak insists both Britain and Rwanda are ready for the first flights to take off in July to kickstart a “regular rhythm” of planes.
The process of detaining those migrants earmarked for the first flights has now begun, although the Home Office is remaining tight-lipped over how they have been selected.
Will it work?
The Safety of Rwanda Act is the third piece of legislation designed to stop small boats in two years.
Mr Sunak is confident that this one is finally tough enough to make deportations to Kigali a viable threat, and therefore deter illegal migrants making the dangerous Channel crossing.
One thing for certain is that an army of lawyers are gearing up to launch legal challenges on behalf of those individuals scheduled for removal.
The threshold they have to meet is that migrants face a risk of “serious and irreversible harm” by being sent to Kigali.
Ministers previously insisted that the Safety of Rwanda Act would force courts to throw out around 95 per cent of all claims.
Time will tell if the legislation is as watertight as they hope – and whether it proves to be an effective deterrent for those considering piling into small boats.