Known as the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, or the Rwanda asylum plan, Britain’s new arrangement with the African country is unlikely to “stop the boats” as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continually promises. Now that it has passed its House of Commons hurdle, it’s perhaps time to reflect and examine precisely what the plan is, what it means, and why The UK Independence Party must oppose it and expose it as political theatre.

The intention was to remove the thousands of people who come here and are housed and fed on an ever-more-overburdened British taxpayer and send them to Rwanda instead. It was introduced in April 2022 and meant that “asylum seekers” would be sent for processing to the African nation; they could stay there, go home, or go on to yet another country. It is more than a year old, and yet, not a single “asylum seeker” has been removed from Britain under its terms.

Let me explain why I place “asylum seeker” in quotation marks. The people coming to Britain on boats are not asylum seekers because such a person must be fleeing persecution on the grounds of their race, religion, or similar grounds. That persecution must be personal to them, but upon arrival in the UK, this is never asked or tested. People are coming from countries that have no conflict, and no evidence of ethnic persecution, and yet, thousands come under the asylum pretence. These people are fleeing the poverty they and their leaders have created, and many want the Western world to provide for them instead of providing for themselves.

The last-minute intervention of the European Court of Human Rights thwarted the government’s initial attempts to deport people to Rwanda. This institution should have no bearing on British decisions.

In the latest developments this month, the government has passed a new piece of legislation that allows deportations to take place without paying heed to the demands of the European Court and classifies Rwanda as a safe country. Good news? No, because “asylum seekers” will still be permitted to challenge their deportation under human rights laws, which renders the whole exercise moot.

Sunak was forced to re-legislate not solely on the grounds of the European intervention but because our own Supreme Court found the arrangement with Rwanda unlawful because it risks the safety of the “asylum seeker.” The Court stated that “refoulement” was a possibility and, therefore, the deal was illegal. Refoulement means returning the “asylum seeker” to their own country and is unlawful under numerous legal instruments, including, of course, the Human Rights Act.

Under the new legislation, Home Secretary James Cleverley said refoulement is not a possibility, and a new panel will be established to ensure that Rwanda lives up to that and other obligations. A new appeals process will also be established, and Britain will pay the living costs of deportees for their first five years in Rwanda. Isn’t this extraordinary? How is it that our government can go to such efforts, lengths, and cost, to protect total strangers from the other side of the world, who have no legitimate claim to asylum, but British people are subjected to horrific crimes without any effort to protect them or any regard for their safety by the courts.

The UK Independence Party should reject this farce in its entirety. It will do nothing to secure Britain’s borders. To do that, we must scrap the Human Rights Act and review any other piece of domestic legislation or international treaty that prevents us from keeping British people safe from unvetted migrants and ensuring the survival of British culture for generations to come.

The United Kingdom is not independent, regardless of Brexit status, because we cannot enforce our own laws without external interference. UKIP must be clear – we will pull out of any arrangement whatsoever that prevents us from closing our borders. It is necessary and popular, and The UK Independence Party is the only party tough enough to pull it off.

Anne Marie Waters

UK Independence Party Spokesman for- Justice, Equality and Disability,

Abuse and Exploitation