Thursday’s general election could paralyze the deportation plan to Rwanda. However, campaigners are warning Labor not to imitate the Conservatives’ hard line on immigration.
As the UK prepares to some elections which probably trigger a change of governmentFor the first time in 14 years, the Conservatives’ plan to deport asylum seekers to the African country of Rwanda appears about to be halted.
The measure, first announced in April 2022 in response to the growing number of immigrants They cross the English Channel in boats, has been deemed illegal by the UK Supreme Court. However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak overcame the legal obstacles by promoting a bill last April that considered Rwanda a safe country.
Sunak has stated that if he is re-elected, flights will be carried out to transfer asylum seekers to the African nation.
Now, with Labor the head of the polls and promising to completely eliminate the deportation plan, a change in immigration policies from United Kingdom.
For Faheem, a asylum seeker who comes from Afghanistan, and has been in the United Kingdom for two years, a change at the top of the Government is very necessary to protect those seeking refuge in the United Kingdom.
“This prime minister tells everyone who comes here that they can’t stay: I do not give you the stay in the United Kingdom, I return you to Rwanda“Faheem, whose brother was murdered by the Taliban regime, told Euronews. “This is not good for me. Rwanda and Afghanistan, for me, are the same,” he says.
According to the plan, requests for protection of deported asylum seekers They would be processed in Rwanda, where they would stay if the efforts are successful.
The measure has sparked numerous criticisms, both from opposition parties and human rights defenders. Sunak says the policy would act as a deterrent to prevent migrants undertake the dangerous journey of the English Channel from the French coast.
“In fact, research evidence suggests that the deterrent effect is quite small“Dr Ben Brindle, from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, explains to Euronews. “This is because, at least in the case of the plan corresponding to the United Kingdom and Rwanda, only a few hundred people would be sent to Rwanda. Thus, when a asylum seeker is considering whether to come to the UK, the risks of him being sent to a third country are very low indeed.
Fizza Qureshi, chief executive of the charity ‘Migrants’ Rights Network’, welcomes Labour’s proposals for end policy on Rwandawhile stating that the party must be careful not to pander to the right’s hardliners on immigration in an attempt to appease voters.
“Obviously, we are in favor of the Rwanda plan is scrapped in its entirety, but we are concerned that an alternative is put in place“Qureshi told Euronews.
“So, while Rwanda remains a concern and has been identified as an unsafe country for many people, we are concerned that Labor is considering the possibility of choosing another country. We know this because bilateral agreements are already being reached between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, and with India.”
In May, the British Government signed an agreement with Bangladesh to accelerate the return of immigrants.
Labor proposes greater immigration control and greater cooperation with France to tackle drug trafficking networks. people crossing the English Channel. With the UK elections sandwiched between two rounds of early legislative elections in France, where the far-right National Rally aspires to enter the Governmentexperts say that cooperation with the French authorities could be more complicated.
“France has an interest in fighting immigration and crime, but not in preventing migrants from leaving France and traveling to the United Kingdom,” said Ian Bond of the European Research Center. “I suspect that can be an even bigger problem If France has a Government more oriented to the right after the second round of the elections,” he maintains.
Labor and Conservatives promise to reduce net immigration
Sunak and Starmer have stated that they want reduce theglobal net migrationincluding the legal one, but they have different approaches to achieve that objective.
“The Conservatives They would seek to restrict the supply of visas, and they would do so by placing an annual cap on the cwork and family visa issues“, explains Ben Brindle.
“For Labour, it’s more about restrict visa demandand they would do so by linking skills policy and immigration policy so that employers and sectors applying for high numbers of work visas would have to enact workforce training plans to fill those skills gaps with workers who already are in the UK,” says Brindle.*
ADVERTISINGSince Brexit, the number of people emigrate to the UK from the EU has collapsed, while migration from outside the EU has increased abruptly.
Therefore, the parties’ vision of drastically cutting the migration net has raised questions about the possible impact on labor shortage in critical sectors, including healthcare.
“If there are fewer people coming to work in these types of jobs, it raises the question of how to fill those vacancies,” suggests Dr. Brindle. “Now, it doesn’t have to be through emigration, but something else will have to be done, such as improve wages and working conditions in these jobs so that they are more attractive for people who are already in the country,” he concludes.
