New UK leader Starmer to scrap Rwanda deportation plan
TLDR
- Britain's PM, Keir Starmer, scraps controversial plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, citing ineffectiveness in deterring influx.
- Previous Conservative government's 2022 initiative aimed to send unauthorized migrants to Rwanda but faced legal challenges, never implemented.
- Starmer's decision marks a significant policy shift after winning the election, focusing on more impactful asylum seeker strategies.
Britain’s new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said on Saturday that he would scrap the controversial plan to fly thousands of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda. This marks his first major policy announcement since winning a landslide election victory.
The plan, first introduced by the previous Conservative government in 2022, aimed to send migrants who arrived in Britain without permission to the East African nation, to curb the influx of asylum seekers arriving on small boats. However, no asylum seekers were ever sent to Rwanda due to prolonged legal challenges.
In his first press conference as prime minister, Starmer explained that the Rwanda policy would be abandoned because it would have only affected about 1% of asylum seekers and would not have served as an effective deterrent.
Key Takeaways
Keir Starmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history on Friday, making him the most powerful British leader since former Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, he faces several significant challenges, including improving struggling public services and reviving a weak economy. A major issue during the six-week election campaign was how to stop asylum seekers from crossing from France. While supporters of the Rwanda policy argued that it would disrupt the model of people traffickers, critics contended that the policy was immoral and unworkable. In November, the UK Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful, stating that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country. In response, ministers signed a new treaty with Rwanda and passed new legislation to override the court's decision. Despite these efforts, Starmer has decided to scrap the Rwanda policy, citing its ineffectiveness and the legal challenges it faced.
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