Priti Patel’s Rwanda deportation policy is obviously cruel to migrants being forced on to one-way flights to east Africa, with little hope of returning.
The legal injunction to stop the first planeload of just seven detainees taking off was a battlefield win but not a victory.
The Home Secretary made clear her intention to continue with the policy despite legal challenges
She went further yesterday and branded those seeking asylum as “pretend” refugees even when her own department’s statistics show the vast majority are granted leave to remain when their cases are finally heard.
Demonising asylum seekers, as Church of England bishops rightly say, is a policy that shames the nation.
But the cruellest hoax of the Rwanda deportation crisis is that it does not deter, nor is it designed to work.
More than 400 migrants crossed the Channel on the same day the first flight was due and hundreds more are expected this week in the warm English weather.
The point of the flights is to appeal to a particular Tory point of view and distract from Downing Street’s law-breaking and the cost-of-living crisis.
Short of sinking the boats, working with other nations is the only answer to this mass movement.
But having turned its back on Europe, this Tory Government does not want to co-operate with our neighbours to tackle the root causes of the migrant crisis.
Instead, it tries to turn a global tragedy into a political row to divide its own voters. Shameful indeed.
Colour blind
The Scottish Greens have secured a number of policy wins at Holyrood over the past few years.
Free bus travel for young people was down to co-leader Patrick Harvie’s party and they negotiated extra climate change cash through their place in government.
But the recent debacle on universal free school meals does not reflect well on the junior party in the power-sharing government.
In their manifesto, the Greens committed to rolling out free school meals for all primary pupils and kids at secondary. However, when the proposal came up at Holyrood, they voted it down.
Green MSPs argued the amendment would result in free meals for private school pupils.
The move reeked of a party desperately trying to find a way to reject a policy they actually believe in, simply because it was proposed by Labour.
Trade unions have led on the free school meals campaign and the Green stance was a snub to this progressive cause.
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