'We've spent £140m for nothing other than a reputation for shameful treatment'

29 June 2023 , 18:42

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Rishi Sunak (Image: PA)

It’s great news that the government will not be able to start putting refugees - men, woman and children seeking our help - on flights to Rwanda.

The court judgement is a victory for those who believe in the British value of fairness.

But the issue hasn’t gone away. The court judgement was good, but it doesn’t mean the spectre of the UK treating refugees so appallingly has vanished.

The government will appeal and the judgement doesn’t mean the idea of packing refugees off to other countries without the chance to have a fair hearing on British soil has dissolved.

It’s worth reflecting that the Rwanda plan has cost the country more than £140m already. No-one has been sent to Rwanda. It isn’t deterring people from trying to get to the UK. And now it has been ruled as unlawful.

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We’ve spent £140m for absolutely nothing other than a reputation for shameful treatment of people who have already been through unimaginable trauma.

Most of those who would be sent to Rwanda have been waiting months if not years for their asylum claim to be dealt with. Most come from Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Syria. People in all those countries face daily risk. Most claims from those countries are agreed as a result - when the Home Office gets round to it, that is.

Ministers say people should come to the UK by safe routes. And yet there are NO safe routes for people from those countries other than a shambolic scheme for Afghans which has led to only a few dozen people fleeing the Taliban arriving here. In a litany of shameful failures, that’s one of the most worst.

You can’t get a visa to come to the UK to escape tyranny.

And safe routes could be set up. We did it for Ukrainians, and quite right too, issuing 200,000 visas. Why don’t we do so for people from other countries fleeing bombs, bullets and persecution? It’s a shambles which causes misery and suffering on an appalling scale.

We would love to help sort this mess out. We stand ready to do so. The UK is better than this.

* Mark Davies is head of campaigns for Refugee Council

Refugee Council