Rishi Sunak has staked his political future on getting the Rwanda scheme off the ground. Under the proposals, asylum seekers who arrive in the UK other than through an existing asylum scheme would be deported to Rwanda where their claim would then be processed.
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Polling from YouGov found that if Labour were to win the next election, 40% of voters would want Keir Starmer to scrap the plan. That compares to 34% who think it should be kept.
Asking a slightly different question, YouGov more recently found that just one in five voters think the Rwanda scheme should be pushed through in its current form. Again, 40% of the public think it should be scrapped altogether.
Home office guidance would allow anti-abortion campaigners to engage in discussion with patients and conduct ‘silent prayer’ within buffer zones
The home secretary James Cleverly has watered down the new rules banning protests outside abortion centres. A new law, designed to create ‘buffer zones’ around health facilities where abortions are carried out was backed by MPs last year. The ‘buffer zones’ were intended to prevent anti-abortion campaigners from holding protests or handing out leaflets within 150 metres of abortion clinics.
However, draft Home Office guidance appears to water these rules down substantially, as first reported by the i. Under the guidance, anti-abortion campaigners would be permitted to approach people attending clinics, conduct ‘silent prayer’ and to and engage in discussion with patients, all inside the 150 metre buffer zones.
The guidance says that within buffer zones, people will still be prevented from ‘influencing’ people within the buffer zones, but goes on to say that “The Government would expect ‘influence’ to require more than mere mention of abortion or the provision of information. As such, informing, discussing or offering help does not necessarily amount to ‘influence’.” It adds that ‘silent prayer’ “should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances”.
The Home Office guidance goes on to say: “It would not normally be in the public interest for police to take action unless they reasonably believe that the acts/behaviour in question would have a direct link to any person’s decision to access abortion services, or would obstruct or impede such access. Nor would it generally be in the public interest for officers to pursue criminal proceedings where there is no evidence that anyone was in fact influenced, obstructed, harassed, alarmed or distressed.”
As the i highlights, provisions to allow for ‘silent prayer’ within buffer zones are at odds with what MPs voted for with regards to the new laws. MPs voted down amendments from the House of Lords which sought to allow ‘silent prayer’.
Demonstrators take part in a ‘Kill The Bill’ protest against The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, on College Green, Westminster, January 17, 2022
RIGHTS advocates have launched a campaign to overturn Tory legislation attacking the right to protest.
Liberty, formerly the National Council for Civil Liberties has condemned the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 as part of a clear pattern in which the right to strike and the right to vote had also been attacked.
It has launched an online petition and is gathering signatures for a letter to Home Secretary James Cleverly calling on him to scrap the legislation.
Liberty director Akiko Hart said: “No matter where we live, our backgrounds, or who we vote for, we all want people in power to listen to our concerns and work to build a brighter future for us and our loved ones.
“But this government is clamping down on the ways we speak up on important issues. Most recently it has given the police dangerously broad powers to crack down on protests and arrest demonstrators.”
Ms Hart said Britain’s leaders are “criminalising protesters to hide from their own failings.”
“This is part of a clear pattern of shutting down the ways we can all hold them accountable for their actions,” she said.
“They have also created laws that stop workers from striking and block countless people from voting.”
Government criticised for spending £400m on Rwanda scheme while more than 1.2m wait for social housing
A housing charity accused the government of “pandering to dog-whistle politics” with the deal. Getty Images
The government could have increased the number of social homes built across England last year by more than a fifth using the money it has committed to its Rwanda asylum scheme.
Home secretary James Cleverly confirmed on Wednesday that the government’s agreement to deport asylum seekers who enter the UK irregularly to the African country will have cost almost £400m by 2027.
The total sum would be enough to completely fund an estimated 2,131 new social homes, which is more than 22% of the 9,561 completed in England in the year to April 2023. The average government grant required to build a new home for social rent in England is £183,000, according to estimates by the National Housing Federation.
More than 1.2 million households were waiting for social housing in England as of March 2023, statistics published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) show.
The figures also show 7,620 social homes were completed in the year to April 2022, but a much higher number, 27,849, either sold or demolished – a net loss of more than 20,000. No figures have yet been published for social homes lost in the most recent year.
The government gave £140m to Rwanda in 2022 as part of its deal with the county and last week the Home Office’s most senior civil servant confirmed that a further £100m was given to the country in 2023. They added that a further payment of £50m is “anticipated” in 2024.
Cleverly, this week, told Parliament that the UK plans to give a further £50m to Rwanda annually in 2026 and 2027.
The overall costs of the Rwanda scheme could reach far higher that the £390m already committed by the government. An earlier economic impact assessment of the Illegal Migration Bill said that it would cost £63,000 more to remove a person to a third country, such as Rwanda, than having their asylum claim processed in the UK.
Rishi Sunak claimed in November that the policy “will literally save us billions in the long run”, but has not provided any figures to back this up.
On Tuesday, the National Audit Office confirmed that it would publish a report assessing the costs of the Rwanda scheme in 2024.
The inquiry was prompted by criticism from Labour MPs Meg Hillier and Diana Johnson, the chairs of the Public Accounts Committee and the Home Office Select Committee respectively, who said that there has been a “lack of clarity around value for money”.
Robina Qureshi, the CEO of Positive Action in Housing, said openDemocracy’s findings show that the government has put “pandering to dog-whistle politics” and “giving asylum contractors huge profits” over people’s futures.
“They haven’t been providing for society,” she said. “Instead they are sitting on their social media accounts trying to promote their own careers, and giving multi-million-pound contracts to asylum contractors. But nothing’s been done to help anyone that really needs it.
“When you build social homes, it increases the pool of houses that are available for anyone who’s in need.”
“There is no doubt that these comments shame the home secretary, this rotten government and the Tory Party. He is clearly unfit for his high office.”
Current Home Secretary James Cleverly suffers from gobshiteism.
Tory MP James Cleverly has been condemned for allegedly calling Stockton North a ‘s***hole’, after a Labour MP asked why a third of children in the constituency live in poverty.
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Cunningham later told the Commons during a point of order: “During Prime Minister’s Questions today I asked the Prime Minister why 34 per cent of children in my constituency lived in poverty.
“Before the Prime Minister answered, the Home Secretary chose to add in his penny’s worth. I have contacted his office, advising him I planned to name him but sadly he’s chosen not to be in the chamber. He was seen and heard to say, ‘Because it’s a s—hole.’
“I know he is denying being the culprit, but the audio is clear. It has been checked and checked and checked again.
“There is no doubt that these comments shame the home secretary, this rotten government and the Tory Party. He is clearly unfit for his high office.”
