A plane taking off to Rwanda would be a win for the government, even if people are being paid to get on it – analysis by Katherine Forster
Give failed asylum seekers £3,000? “You couldn’t make it up”, will be the reaction of many.
The government wants thousands of people whose asylum applications have failed to go to Rwanda. Voluntarily. And they’ll pay them £3,000.
Plus house them for five years, and support them with training and finding work. Just like the scheme we’ve heard about for almost two years, which has yet to send a single migrant to Africa. But in this case people will choose to go.
It might sound like madness, but there may be method in it.
We’re already paying failed asylum seekers up to £3,000 to go back to their original countries. This is an expansion of an existing scheme.
We hear a lot, rightly, about the numbers coming in, and those stuck in the logjam waiting to be processed.
But thousands leave too. Last year the Home Office rejected over 30,000 asylum applications. Over 19,000 chose to go to their home country voluntarily. 4,000 were failed asylum seekers, while 15,000 had overstayed their visa or were foreign criminals.
Some have come from countries like Afghanistan and Iran and cannot safely return. That’s where this scheme could come into its own.
And it’s a useful contingency plan in case the original plan to send migrants crossing the Channel on a one-way ticket to Rwanda stalls again.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
People smuggling operation ‘smashed’ as key suspect arrested‘We are being punished!’ Lorry firm fined £66K after migrants hid in vehicle: ‘We’re not border force’Migrants may be PAID to move to Rwanda under plans being drawn up by ministers
The Safety of Rwanda Bill has been heavily amended by the Lords, but returns to the Commons next week, and is likely to become law this month. So in theory flights could take off this spring.
But the government could, yet again, get bogged down with legal challenges. Tory rebels warn that the bill will not work.
This voluntary scheme means the government should be able to get people on planes at last, regardless of what happens with the main scheme.
Given over £370million has been given or pledged to Rwanda already, it makes sense to be using the accommodation and resources that have already been lined up.
Once an asylum application is rejected, the person cannot legally work, or access benefits or housing. Some exceptions apply though, especially for those with families.
The hope is that a new life in Rwanda will be attractive.
And Suella Braverman’s ‘dream’ of flights to Rwanda full of migrants could finally come true. Whether or not the original plan succeeds.
It’s a far cry from the original plan announced by the then Home Secretary Priti Patel and then Prime Minister Boris Johnson way back in April 2022. If you crossed the Channel illegally you’d be put straight on a one-way ticket to Rwanda, with no chance of being able to stay in the UK. So they said.
It hasn’t worked out like that. But an election is looming and the government will take what it can get. And a plane taking off at last would be a win. Even if people are being paid to get on it.