LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today of calling an early election to avoid a “Rwanda test.”
Mr Sunak conceded earlier in the day that flights under the Tory scheme to deport migrants to the country would not take off before the election on July 4.
He said that the “preparation work” had already been done and urged voters to back him if they wanted the plans to go ahead.
Sir Keir said: “I don’t think he’s ever believed that plan is going to work, and so he has called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election.
“We have to deal with the terrible loss of control of the border under this government, we have to tackle the small boats that are coming across but nobody should be making that journey."
Freedom for Torture associate director of advocacy Natasha Tsangarides said that “no matter” the election result, campaigns will continue to demand a “fair, effective and humane approach to people seeking sanctuary.”
She told the Star: “We know that blunt, punitive enforcement policies don’t stop people moving to find safety.
“All it does is push them into taking even more dangerous journeys to do so.
“Men, women and children who’ve survived unimaginable horrors deserve safety and support to recover and rebuild their lives.
“Since the very start, survivors of torture have been at the forefront of campaigns urging the government to scrap the cruel Rwanda scheme and other anti-refugee policies.
“And we will not stop fighting until they are put into reverse once and for all.”
Amnesty International UK refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds said: “There is a desperate need for politicians of all parties to focus on repairing the damage done over the past three years because the disastrous policy of simply refusing to consider tens of thousands of asylum claims made in the UK has shut down the system.
“The policy of not processing claims must be immediately scrapped and the government must shift the focus to fairly and efficiently deciding asylum claims received by this country just as other countries are expected to deal with the claims they receive.
“No amount of energy or bluster spent on commanding borders or tackling gangs will solve anything unless and until this country faces up to its responsibility to provide safety to people who have fled war and oppression, however they may arrive."
