‘Migrants are volunteering to go to Rwanda,’ Kemi Badenoch says as first failed asylum seeker sent to country
MIGRANTS want to go to Rwanda and are already volunteering to pack their bags, Kemi Badenoch insisted today.
The Business Secretary said the arrival of the UK’s first failed asylum seeker in Kigali this week should be “trumpeted” by the public.
Ms Badenoch told Times Radio: “The easiest cases will be the first ones.
“I do think that we should be trumpeting it because one of the big arguments about this scheme was Rwanda wasn’t a safe country, and actually people are volunteering to go there.”
Last night The Sun exclusively revealed that Britain has removed the first failed asylum seeker to the east African nation.
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.
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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.
Ms Badenoch praised Kigali as a “holiday” destination and hit out at human rights groups who describe the city as “unsafe”.
She said: “I know people who go there on holiday, a lot of people have been.
“We need to get away from a lot of the myths about this African country which is actually a leader on the continent in terms of what it’s been able to achieve both economically and around law and order.”
The Business Secretary slammed criticisms that the Rwanda scheme is too expensive.
Ministers have already pledged to cough up £240m to the east African country by the end of 2023.
But the final bill will hit at least £370m over five years, according to the government’s spending watchdog.
Ms Badenoch said: “There is no cost-free option, but I think that this is the right policy.
“It’s obviously already acting as a deterrent if we look at what the Irish government has been putting out.
“Just assuming that policing our borders can be done for no money whatsoever, it’s just not serious.
“It’s going to cost us something whatever it is we do.”
The first migrant removal came as part of a side scheme to the forced deportation of illegal immigrants policy that is set to begin flights in July.
First migrant in Rwanda paves way for forced deportation flights
By HARRY COLE, Political Editor
THIS is the first time in British history that the government has removed someone from Britain to a third country – and that’s going to have huge and significant repercussions for the legality and the operational success of the Rwanda scheme.
Rwanda has become a totemic policy for the government. It’s the centre of all of their migration deterrent policies.
But commentators, lawyers, opposition MPs and even the government’s own MPs have said this scheme couldn’t happen.
There was once upon a time ministers, including Rishi Sunak, were trying to kill the scheme and saying it wouldn’t be value for money.
So this is a really important moment for the government and it couldn’t have come at a better time, really, for Mr Sunak on the eve of the May local elections, when he’s possibly facing rebellion from the right-wing of his party.
To show that this policy can work in action is a significant moment by anyone’s book.
Last time they tried to send someone to Rwanda, a flight was grounded on the tarmac by the Strasbourg court and an emergency injunction was granted by the ECHR. That stopped the flights going.
This tonight proves that it can be done in theory and in principle.
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.”
In March, the Home Office confirmed the voluntary relocation plan for anyone caught in Britain with no right to be here.
They said then that Rwanda stood “ready to accept people who wish to rebuild their lives and cannot stay in the UK.”
The side deal is for those who have already gone through the asylum process here and been refused permission to stay rather than Channel migrants who enter illegally.
Last year 19,000 failed asylum seekers were voluntarily removed from the UK, after being told they would never get the rights of legal migrants such as the right to work.
But there are tens of thousands still in the system who cannot be sent back to their home countries due to fears of persecution.
Ministers argue it is better and cheaper to send them to Rwanda than support them here – even after offering them cash and a one way ticket to a new life.