I am appalled by the Government’s proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. 

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plans to send those seeking refuge to Rwanda for processing is the hostile environment on steroids. It is chaotic, callous and cruel. This is not the kind of country we want to be.  

It would be a very high financial cost to UK taxpayers during a cost of living crisis and the timing is a blatant attempt by the Prime Minister to distract from partygate.  

Following the crisis in Ukraine as well as the crisis in Afghanistan, it is so clear that the British public strive to help those in need. We are a generous nation but our Government is not. The Government’s actions are the opposite to the public’s and it is clear that this is another area that they are out of touch in.  

This is desperate, unworkable and unethical.  

There are clear alternatives to the current system which would provide safe routes of passage for refugees fleeing to safety in the UK but Priti Patel has not invested in these.  

 At the same time the Government are going ahead with drastic aid cuts to programmes such as peace building in South Sudan. Peace and development mean that people wouldn’t not have to flee their homes and are the only long term solution.  

I have just returned from a trip to Lebanon which is a country on the brink of war and yet UK aid programmes are being cut.  We need real, long-term solutions to global issues that affect us in the UK. Instead we have the unworkable, knee-jerk and doomed Rwandan scheme. 

Labour opposes this Government decision.