Newly elected British Premier, Keir Starmer, has confirmed that the contentious Rwanda deportation plan for asylum seekers has been scrapped.
In his first press conference on Saturday after winning the elections, Starmer announced he would discontinue the Conservative government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.
“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent,” Starmer stated as rights advocates applauded the decision.
Read more: Labour Party Resounding Win Ends 14-Year Conservative Rule In Britain
“I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” he told reporters, referring to the plan as a “problem that we are inheriting.”
Initially, UK authorities began detaining asylum seekers in May, with lawmakers approving the controversial law in April, designating Rwanda as a safe third country for deportation.
The legislation bypassed an earlier UK Supreme Court ruling that deemed the scheme unlawful on human rights grounds, though former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had championed the policy.
Sunak faced criticism as tens of thousands of asylum seekers fleeing wars and poverty arrived in the UK via small boats across the English Channel, operated by people-smuggling gangs.
“No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda,” Sunak had asserted amid government backlash.
Despite rising immigration numbers, Starmer holds a different view on the matter; notably, not a single flight has departed for Rwanda.
“Everyone has worked out, particularly the gangs that run this, that the chance of ever going to Rwanda was so slim – less than 1 percent,” Starmer told reporters.
While pro-immigration groups welcomed the announcement, the Conservative party, including potential Sunak successor Suella Braverman, expressed concerns.
“Years of hard work, acts of Parliament, millions of pounds spent on a scheme which, had it been delivered properly, would have worked,” Braverman said on Saturday.
“There are big problems on the horizon which will be, I’m afraid, caused by Keir Starmer,” she noted, criticizing the new prime minister.
