Labour’s Rwanda hypocrisy has been laid bare as previously classified Government documents show that former Prime Minister Tony Blair drew up a plan to house migrants in a camp on the Isle of Mull.
The plan would have seen some illegal migrants put back on the plane they arrived on – with little or no right of appeal.
It was put forward by Blair’s top aide as part of a “nuclear option” for tackling the mounting asylum issue.
In addition to migrant camps on the Isle of Mull, the plan also considered the creation of a number of regional “safe havens” in countries including Turkey and South Africa.
The current Labour Party has levelled harsh criticism of the Government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda
PA
The “safe havens” would house refugees who could not be returned to their own country.
The documents, released by The National Archives under the 20-year rule, showed that Blair’s Government also wanted to overrule the European Convention on Human Right (ECHR) to deport asylum seekers.
The current Labour Party has levelled harsh criticism of the Government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda, with Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper branding it a “damaging distraction”.
She said the scheme is “unworkable, unethical” and “extortionately expensive”.
This week, it was revealed that the Labour Party is drawing up its own alternative to the Rwanda migration plan, as part of an attempt to neautralise attacks from the Conservative Party ahead of a general election.
Sources told the Times the Labour leader is considering detailed plans for offshore processing schemes, which would see asylum seekers have their claims processed overseas.
However, he is said to have ruled out introducing Rwanda-style deportations.
Three tests must be met in order to secure the party’s seal of approval, shadow ministers and party officials working on the plans have warned.
They have warned it must be cost-effective and credible enough to deter migrants from crossing the channel.
It also must clear the legal hurdles which have left the Government’s Rwanda scheme beleaguered by issues.
The main difference between Labour’s plan and the current proposals put forward by the Tories is that any refugees who are granted asylum status in the offshore processing centres would be returned to the UK.
A senior Labour source told the Times: “We’ve always looked at the small boats issue as a problem that needs to be solved, and we’ve always been open to a range of possible solutions.”
They added: “The Tories like to compare Rwanda to the schemes tht other European countries are considering, but this is a false comparison because other European governments are looking at options around offshore processing, whereas the Rwanda scheme is about sending asylum seekers to another country permanently”.
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