Nicola Sturgeon has slammed the Tory Government's plan to send asylum seekers arriving in the UK to Rwanda while their applications are being processed.
The First Minister took aim at Boris Johnson's after it was announced the UK will sign a deal with the East African country later today.
It means people seeking sanctuary in Britain will be sent more than 4,000 miles away to be processed.
An initial £120 million is expected to be given to the Rwandan government under a trial scheme, which is being criticised by refugee charities as a "cruel and nasty decision" that will fail to address the issue and "lead to more human suffering and chaos".
Opposition leaders have criticised the move by the government and believe it is a distraction tactic from the partygate fines.
Sturgeon tweeted: "A despicable policy on its own terms. But add the fact that it’s being set out today to distract from #partygate and you see the utter moral bankruptcy of this Tory government laid bare. Shameful."
Scotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf accused the UK Government of being "institutionally racist" over the plans.
He tweeted: "UK Govt rightly provides asylum and refuge to Ukrainians fleeing war, but wants to send others seeking asylum thousands of miles away to Rwanda for 'processing'.
"And you still question whether this heartless Tory Govt is institutionally racist?"
Ian Blackford, the SNP 's Westminster leader, described the Government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as "evil".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's just chilling, absolutely chilling, to think that people who are coming here for a whole host of reasons - vulnerable people - are going to be taken all the way to Africa to be processed.
"This is not the mark of a civilised society. It's evil.
"It just turns my stomach to see that our Government acting in our name can behave in such a way, and I think a lot of people are going to be quite aghast."
'Massive distraction'
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has described Government plans as a "massive distraction" from the Prime Minister being fined over Downing Street parties.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee said: "He's trying to make an announcement today on migration, and all of this is a massive distraction.
"It's not going away. It is a crisis. It requires crisis management. There needs to be a plan.
"Otherwise, we're in drift mode, with potentially more resignations and more letters of concern. That isn't where we want to go - it will then dominate the political agenda."
Ellwood added: "My concern is, is that this will then drift because there are four more fixed penalty notices to come and the Sue Gray report as well.
"There needs to be an opportunity in the very near future for us to draw a line on where we go and how the party then moves forward."
Labour's plan
Lucy Powell has said Labour would tackle illegal and dangerous routes of immigration through measures such as making it more difficult for smugglers to advertise online.
The Labour MP told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We've put forward proposals to make it more difficult for smuggler gangs to advertise online on social media, which is partly how they do it.
"We think there should be safe and legal routes that people need for family reunions and so on, so that they don't have to arrive through these illegal routes in order to make their asylum claims.
"We think the Home Office needs to get a grip of the decision-making process - asylum decisions are now incredibly slow - not just months, but years," the shadow secretary for culture added.
"We've got some of the slowest decision-making in Europe, and crucially, we haven't got these return agreements.
"So even though I think around about two-thirds of the asylum cases of those that come across the Channel are in fact granted, the third that aren't granted can't be returned."
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