Rwanda migrant latest: Rory Stewart calls plans ‘disturbing’ as Boris Johnson prepares for legal wrangle

Ministers were braced for legal challenges over widely criticised plans to forcibly send to Rwanda up to tens of thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in the UK in unauthorised Channel crossings.

Boris Johnson insisted his scheme to detain and fly migrants more than 4,000 miles to East Africa at the expense of the taxpayer was not “draconian and lacking in compassion”.

But both the Prime Minister and Priti Patel said on Thursday they were prepared to fight attempts to use the courts to block the plans heavily criticised by refugee charities.

The UK is set to send thousands of asylum seekers to be processed in Rwanda despite granting protection to dozens of people fleeing the African nation in the past decade.

The first people to be relocated to Rwanda under the deal will receive formal notifications within weeks, the government has said, with the first flights expected to take place in the coming months.

The plans have drawn fierce criticism from refugee charities, rights groups and politicians, with the Refugee Council branding it “cruel and nasty” and Amnesty International raising concerns about the nation’s “dismal human rights record”.

My colleague Chiara Giordano has more:

Former cabinet minister Rory Stewart said the announcement that asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda is “very strange and very disturbing”, adding he does not believe anyone will actually be sent there.

“I don’t like what they are doing in Rwanda, I think they are offshoring a British problem and they’re trying to put it out of sight and out of mind,” he said, but added he is not someone who believes in completely open borders, adding: “I don’t like the way they’re doing it, but I think there is an argument for what the Government is trying to do”.

The former Africa minister said: “It’s very strange and very disturbing.

“I was in Rwanda two weeks ago. There are many things that are positive, as you know, about Rwanda. It’s come out of a genocide, it’s gone through an extraordinary process of national healing, but it’s also an authoritarian state.

“But I think the most striking thing about it is that we are essentially exporting our problems to another country, and I think it’s particularly bizarre to be doing it in Rwanda because Rwanda is one of the very poorest countries on earth.”

Asked if he though the plan was a gimmick and if anyone will actually be sent to the East African nation, Mr Stewart said: “I think you’ve put your finger on it. I think it’s extremely unlikely that anyone’s actually going to go. I think they certainly haven’t worked out the details of it.

“And my strong suspicious is they have made this announcement in order to distract from the Covid parties and the prime Minister’s fines, and the lies in parliament.”

A former home office permanent secretary has called the government’s Rwanda migrant programme “inhumane”, “morally reprehensible”, “probably unlawful” and potentially “unworkable”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Sir David Normington said: “Well, let’s assume it’s actually going to happen because there are lots of hurdles to get over and the prime minister has admitted that – so, it’s not going to solve a problem very quickly.

“But let’s assume it is going to happen and the government is serious about it.

“My assessment is first of all, it’s inhumane. It’s morally reprehensible. It’s probably unlawful and it may well be unworkable.

He continued: “These are victims, probably, of repression in their own country – certainly of traffickers and smugglers.

“And they are soon going to become victims of the British government who are going to give them a one-way ticket to a country they don’t know, they don’t want to go to, can’t speak the language and are going to be left there.

”Whatever we think about the problems of immigration and asylum seeking in this country, treating individuals like that is simply not acceptable.”

Former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has announced he is standing down as MP for Wakefield following his conviction for a sex offence.

His resignation triggers an explosive by-election in the West Yorkshire seat, which was one of the traditional Labour strongholds in the so-called Red Wall which fell to Boris Johnson’s Tories in the 2019 general election.

The contest will be a crucial test of Sir Keir Starmer’s ability to win back the Red Wall and of the extent to which the prime minister’s appeal has been tarnished by his police fine over a lockdown-breaching party in 10 Downing Street.

More to follow from our political editor Andrew Woodcock:

Prime minister Boris Johnson today said the asylum seeker agreement is “uncapped” and Rwanda will have the “capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead”.

Giving a major speech in Kent, Mr Johnson said the partnership will be “fully compliant with our international legal obligations”, while insisting Rwanda is “one of the safest countries in the world”.

“But nevertheless, we expect this will be challenged in the courts,” Mr Johnson added, as he hit out at what he called a “formidable army of politically motivated lawyers”.

He said they have “made it their business to thwart removals and frustrate the government” and have caused the UK to be “seen as a soft touch for illegal migration by some of our partners”.

“So I know this system will not take effect overnight,” Mr Johnson added.