Following the triumph of the British Labour Party in a parliamentary election on Friday, a new migration crisis is brewing. Labour leader pledged to cancel the Conservative government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was first announced in 2022 but has been delayed by legal challenges.
Keir Starmer said halting of asylum processing due to government's Rwanda policy 'absurd and reckless'.
Conservative government believed the scheme, due to begin this July, will put people off trying to come to the UK across the English Channel in small boats.
But Labour argues the scheme will not deter people from trying to make the journey.
According to the National Audit Office, payments to Rwanda would cost 370m over five years, plus 120m if more than 300 people are moved, and 20,000 per individual relocated.
Pressed on when his party would scrap the scheme, Sir Keir told reporters Labour would "get rid of the policy straight away".
"I'm not going to continue a policy I don't think is going to work, which is going to cost a fortune," he added.
Labour's plans, which the Conservatives have dubbed an "amnesty for illegal immigrants", will allow those arriving in the UK on small boats to apply for asylum - which is currently banned under the Illegal Migration Act.
Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed Labour would resume processing asylum applications for people who have previously arrived in the UK illegally.
Under a law passed in July last year, tens of thousands of such people, including those who arrived on small boats, are effectively blocked from gaining refugee status.
Sir Keir accused the Conservatives of "a Travelodge amnesty" by not processing asylum claims and housing people in hotels instead - though the plans do not amount an amnesty either as they involve deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Nearly 9,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, provisional Home Office figures show.
This is up almost a third (32%) on the same period last year, when 6,691 people made the crossing, and a 14% rise compared with the same period in 2022 when the number of people was 7,750.
"I won't pursue a strategy that I view as futile and that will drain our resources," declared the leader of the opposition in parliament.
Meanwhile, as noted by the agency, recent surveys suggest that 55% of the British public and 50% of those supporting the Labour Party favor sending illegal immigrants to Africa. By May, Rwandan officials had already received $275 million from the British government, with payments expected to continue at $150 million every three years.
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