Latest updates: opposition parties denounce plan as ‘shameful’ and ‘evil’; home secretary Priti Patel in Kigali today to unveil more details
UK to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processingHuman rights fears in Rwanda whose leader faces murder claimsRwandan opposition criticises deal with UKJohnson refuses to say whether he will resign over Covid finesAsylum-seeker in UK slams Rwanda plans
Simon Hart, the Welsh secretary, made a rare appearance on the morning broadcast round earlier today. He said the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda would mark a “humane step forward”. He told Sky News:
We have to deal with this problem. We have a very good relationship with Rwanda: it’s an up-and-coming economy, it has got a very good record with migrants in this particular issue.
And it’s an arrangement which I think suits both countries very well and provides the best opportunities for economic migrants, for those who have been in the forefront of this particular appalling problem for so long now.
We’ve put forward proposals to make it more difficult for smuggler gangs to advertise online on social media, which is partly how they do it.
We think there should be safe and legal routes that people need for family reunions and so on, so that they don’t have to arrive through these illegal routes in order to make their asylum claims.