Latest news with #RwandaPlan
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
Why are we slashing foreign aid when it can help stop the boats?
When I was an MP in Kent, I saw the problems on our coastline – and have always supported tough measures to cut the number of people arriving in this country without permission. Later, as immigration minister, I took measures to stop people hiding in the backs of lorries, and more recently, I voted and spoke in favour of the Rwanda plan, set out by the former Conservative government. There is no single magic bullet to stop boats crossing the English Channel. But one key part of an effective strategy is to reduce the incentives for people to climb into those boats in the first place – to offer a stick as well as a carrot. As powerful new research from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy shows, well-targeted aid provides that incentive for someone to stay in their home country and abandon dreams of fleeing to Europe. It tackles the root causes of the problem, with benefits to us and would-be asylum seekers. We know that most people in these small boats come from countries in conflict, or where there have been humanitarian emergencies – from Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Eritrea – so delivering improvements where living conditions are desperate will mean fewer people starting the journey. I'm not talking about spending taxpayers' money to salve our consciences – my argument is that this would be spending our money wisely, in the interests of the British people. The Kiel research shows that, in Sub-Saharan Africa, a marked improvement in health and education services resulted in a 27 per cent fall in people saying they planned to move abroad over the next 12 months – the key ingredient in reducing that push factor. In the same way, if aid is spent wisely in conflict-stricken countries, it is a very effective tool in reducing the danger of fresh outbreaks of violence and, therefore, migration. In the future, as the climate crisis bites, helping agricultural communities adapt by providing better irrigation or more resistant crops will become an increasingly effective use of aid funds. As Tobias Heidland, professor of economics at Kiel University and the study's co-author, puts it: 'When aid improves basic services like healthcare and education – or helps stabilise post-conflict regions – people are less likely to leave.' The research underlines that most people only decide to migrate as a last resort. It is a choice they feel forced to make because they lack opportunity, physical security, or basic services such as healthcare and education. Targeted aid investments can improve these conditions. It also shows information campaigns highlighting the dangers of a journey, such as attempting to cross to Europe and on to the UK, can deliver a 10-20 per cent fall in the share of people ready to migrate – but only once they believe their own situation is no longer hopeless. This all means that relying on tough border controls alone to curb the type of migration we see almost every day in the English Channel will only take us so far. Success requires steps to stop journeys at their start, as well as at their end. Moreover, spending aid in this way is not only the clever thing to do, it can also be popular. Polling from More in Common found that three in five Britons and two-thirds of Reform voters support aid that reduces the numbers of people from war-torn countries seeking asylum in the UK. I regret the short-sighted decision to raid the UK's development budget for the funds that are badly needed to bolster our defence in an increasingly dangerous world, but I recognise that decision has been taken and is unlikely to be reversed. What matters now is to make the case for the survival of essential programmes beyond the current cost-cutting, for those that benefit us all. And there is no more obvious example of that than aid that tackles the small boats' crisis at source.
Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
Daily Boat Immigrant Arrivals Top 1,000 for 1st Time This Year
More than 1,100 illegal immigrants have arrived by crossing the English Channel, the highest number recorded in a single day this year. Provisional Home Office figures show 1,195 people arrived on Britain's shores in 19 small boats on Saturday, the highest total so far in 2025 and the first time this year the number exceeded 1,000 in one day. The previous highest figure was 825, recorded on May 21. So far in 2025, 14,812 people have illegally entered the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats. According to analysis of the data by The Epoch Times, this is 42 percent higher than this time last year, when a total of 10,448 had arrived. It is also nearly double the number of arrivals by May 31, 2023, when 7,610 had landed. Saturday's figures remain below the daily record of 1,305 set on Sept. 3, 2022, which was a year that saw the highest number boat landings overall. In total, of 45,755 people had arrived in 2022, with similarly high daily figures recorded on Oct. 9 (1,241) and Nov. 12 (1,214). Landings so far this year are also higher than the number who had arrived by May 31, 2022 (9,607), which suggests 2025 could be another record year, unless government efforts to stop the boats and tackle the smuggling gangs are successful. A total of 165,590 people have crossed the English Channel to enter the UK since record-keeping for this type of illegal immigration began in 2018. Undermining Border Security A Home Office spokesperson said the government wants to end dangerous small boat crossings, 'which threaten lives and undermine our border security.' Related Stories 5/22/2025 5/19/2025 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders,' the spokesperson said. Since coming to power in July 2024, the Labour government has taken a different approach to tackling illegal immigration compared with its Conservative predecessors. Notably, it scrapped the Rwanda Plan, which aimed to send asylum seekers who arrived illegally to safe third countries like Rwanda, a policy the previous administration argued would deter people from making the cross-Channel journey. The Conservatives had also Similarly, the Labour government continues to work with international and European partners to ' UK Working With France The Labour government has since founded the cross-agency Border Security Command, which will take a Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to BAE Systems in Govan, Glasgow, on June 2, 2025. Andy Buchanan/PA Wire Giving a major defence speech in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that 'nobody should be making that journey across the Channel, and it's our duty to make sure that we ensure that they don't.' Starmer said his government was working closely with French counterparts on taking further action in northern France, which is where most of the boats depart from. Asked about the Rwanda Plan, the prime minister said, 'The reason we stood down the Rwanda scheme was because it cost a fortune, and only a handful of people went on a voluntary basis to Rwanda, and it didn't deter anybody.' 'I'm not up for gimmicks. I'm up for the hard work of working with partners, enhancing the powers that law enforcement have in my determination to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade,' he added. Home Office figures revealed in December that the Rwanda Plan had However, the UK is in talks with several Balkan nations about setting up ' Shadow home secretary Chris Philp had called the proposals a 'weak imitation' of the Rwanda policy.
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The many times Starmer criticised Rwanda scheme – before announcing own deportation plan
Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK will begin talks with other countries to host 'return hubs' for failed asylum seekers. During his time as both leader of the opposition and Prime Minister, however, Sir Keir has been a staunch critic of the Tories' plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda. The Prime Minister cancelled Rishi Sunak's flagship immigration policy on his first day in Downing Street, which is likely to prompt accusations of hypocrisy now that he is also looking to send asylum seekers to third countries. Here, The Telegraph takes a look at Sir Keir's criticisms of the Rwanda plan. April 14, 2022 In response to Boris Johnson's announcement of the Rwanda plan, Sir Keir said it was 'unworkable', 'extortionate' and an attempt to distract voters from Mr Johnson's partygate fine for breaching Covid rules. November 15, 2023 Speaking in the Commons, Sir Keir called the Rwanda scheme 'the most ridiculous, pathetic spectacle of all', adding: 'Does he want to apologise to the country for wasting £140 million of cash?' December 12, 2023 Sir Keir used a speech to say that bearing down on illegal migration was 'about doing the basics better' and that 'stopping the boats means stopping the gimmicks'. May 10, 2024 Sir Keir told reporters: 'Every flight that goes off requires a massive cheque to be written to the Rwandan government. I want to use that money for setting up the law enforcement to break the gangs in the first place… No planes, no scheme, I'm not going to flog a dead horse.' May 23, 2024 During the first full week of the general election campaign, Sir Keir said: 'I don't think he's ever believed that plan is going to work, and so he has called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election.' June 27, 2024 Sir Keir told Mr Sunak during the final general election debate: 'Why are record numbers still coming under your watch, Prime Minister? How on earth can you say it's working?' He added: 'I noticed you called the election, by the way, before any flights could actually get off, but it could be tested. Interesting timing. But if this was such a deterrent, why is it obviously not working?' July 5, 2024 The day after Labour won the general election, sources in Sir Keir's Government told The Telegraph: 'If Rishi Sunak thought Rwanda would work, he wouldn't have called an election. It was a con. By calling an election, Sunak was acknowledging that fact.' July 6, 2024 Sir Keir said at a press conference: 'Look at the numbers that have come over in the first six and a bit months of this year, they are record numbers, that is the problem that we are inheriting. It's had the complete opposite effect and I'm not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don't act as a deterrent.' September 4, 2024 Sir Keir told the Commons: 'Unlike the Conservative party, we will not waste money on gimmicks. That is why, within days, we ended the Rwanda scheme and announced the launch of the border security force, and we have been preparing legislation to introduce counter-terrorism powers to tackle gangs.' March 12, 2025 At Prime Minister's Questions, he said: 'The Rwanda scheme cost £700 million of taxpayers' money to remove four volunteers. What a contrast: we have got the flights off and removed 19,000 people who should not be here.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Looking for Other Countries to Help Him Defy Deportation Ban
The Trump administration is currently in talks with several countries to find a new place to deport immigrants, The Wall Street Journal reported. Officials are seeking countries willing to accept deportees whose native countries are slow to take them back. The countries currently in talks with U.S. immigration officials are reportedly Benin, Eswatini, Kosovo, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, and Rwanda, the Journal reported Tuesday night. Ricardo Zuniga, a former senior State Department and National Security Council official, told the Journal that most countries willing to go along with U.S. demands would likely be 'problematic.' 'But even they are asking, 'What's in it for us? Who's going to pay for it? How am I going to explain the political burden of accepting people on behalf of the United States?'' Zuniga said. Talks are currently being spearheaded by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the architect behind Trump's inhumane plan for massive deportations and known for his emotionally volatile run-ins with the press. 'Friendly reminder: If you illegally invaded our country the only 'process' you are entitled to is deportation,' Miller wrote on X Tuesday, advocating for the Trump administration to suspend due process to expedite the removal of alleged members of gangs the administration deems as terrorist groups, as it did last month with the sudden removal of 261 alleged members of Tren de Aragua to El Salvador. Deals with other countries may have been in the works for some time. U.S. conservatives began plotting to send deportees to Rwanda before Trump was even elected, copying a contentious plan from the U.K.'s conservative leadership to offload asylum seekers there. The U.K.'s Rwanda Plan, which has been in motion since 2022, has proved both inefficient and expensive, according to The Guardian. Additionally, the U.S. government has previously raised concerns about human rights conditions in Rwanda, including reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detainment, disappearances, and torture. The State Department reported similar conditions in Benin and Libya. While these plans may have already been in the works, there may be a renewed sense of urgency after a judge's decision barring the Trump administration from deporting people to El Salvador without first giving them an opportunity to challenge their removal. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to provide written notice and an opportunity for detainees to apply for protection before deporting them to a third country. The order was a clear rebuke of Trump's $6 million deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to accept deportees at the Latin American country's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, a prison notorious for human rights abuses. This wasn't the first time that a judge challenged El Salvador as a destination for deportees. In a filing late last month, Judge James Boasberg said that by sending the prisoners to CECOT, the Trump administration had likely violated the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, which states that 'it shall be the policy of the United States not to expel … any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.' The government admitted Monday that it had wrongly deported one Salvadoran national to El Salvador as a result of an 'administrative error.' ICE was aware that a judge had previously ruled that the man could not be removed there for concerns that he'd be targeted by gang violence, but his name was mistakenly included as an alternate on a manifest for removal. A judge ruled that there would be no way to rescue the man from CECOT, as he was no longer in U.S. custody.
