PRITI Patel has been accused of “putting our country to shame” after insisting she will press ahead with her plan to send refugees to Rwanda despite an 11th-hour legal ruling by a European court which halted the first departure.
The Home Secretary stressed the UK Government was “determined to deliver” the controversial policy, claiming that “the British people have repeatedly voted for controlled immigration and the right to secure borders”.
Ms Patel outlined how the first flight to take asylum seekers to Rwanda was due to take place on Tuesday night but did not go ahead because of the decision of an “out-of-hours” judge from the European Court of Human Rights “minutes” before departure.
She said removal directions for people on the flight have been “paused”.
Ms Patel added: “The European Court of Human Rights did not rule that the policy or relocations were unlawful, but they prohibited the removal of three of those on last night’s flight.
“Those prohibitions last for different time periods but are not an absolute bar on their transfer to Rwanda. Anyone who has been ordered to be release by the courts will be tagged while we continue to progress their relocation.”
She said the court’s decision was “disappointing and surprising”, but added “we remain committed to this policy”.
She added: “We believe that we are fully compliant with our domestic and international obligations, and preparations for our future flights and the next flights have already begun.
“We will not stand idly by and let organised crime gangs, who are despicable in their nature and their conduct, evil people, treat human beings as cargo.
“We will not accept that we have no right to control our borders, we will do everything necessary to keep this country safe and we will continue our long and proud tradition of helping those in genuine need.”
Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, branded the fiasco “a shambles”, adding that it was “shameful”.
Ms Cooper insisted that the idea “is not and never has been a serious policy”, adding that Ms Patel “knew that when she chartered the plane”.
She said: “She knew that among the people she was planning to send to Rwanda on this plane were torture and trafficking victims. She knew she didn’t have a proper screening process in place, she knew that some of them might be children.”
Ms Cooper added highlighted “serious concerns” about restrictions in Rwanda on political freedom and the treatment of the LGBT community.
Ms Cooper accused MS Patel of “so badly failing” to take “basic decisions” on immigration that “she is trying to pay a country thousands of miles away to take decisions for us instead”.
She added: “She knew about problem after problem with her policy. She knows this is unworkable, unethical, and won't stop the criminal gangs, but yet she still went ahead and spent half a million pounds chartering a plane she never expected to fly.
“It isn’t a long-term plan, it is a short-term stunt. Everyone can see it. It's not serious policy, it's shameless posturing and she knows it.
“It's not building consensus, it's just posturing by division. It is government by gimmick.
"It's not in the public interest, it's just in their political interest and what are they prepared to trash along the way - people's lives and basic British values of fairness, decency and common sense on the reputation of our nation.
“Our country is better than this. We've a long tradition of hard work and stepping up to tackle problems not to offload them, to tackle the criminal gangs who put lives at risk and to do right by refugees.
“That is what she should be doing now and not this shambles that is putting our country to shame.”
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