Tory plans to send Channel boat migrants to Rwanda will provoke violent confrontations at airports, a former Cabinet Minister warned today.
Ex-International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell feared asylum seekers would forcibly resist attempts to corral them on to planes from Britain to East Africa.
“It will be very difficult to transport them because we know that people will fight to stop getting on planes,” he told the BBC.
“It’s extremely difficult to get people who are desperate and who do not want to get on a flight on to a flight.”
The Government plans to charter planes to fly boat migrants to Rwanda, it is understood.
But Mr Mitchell said RAF planes would be needed, piling pressure on our stretched air force.
He warned: “You won’t be able to use civilian flights, you’ll have to use military aircraft. Our military aircraft are needed for other matters.”
He also said costs would be “astronomical”, “eye-watering” and “incredibly expensive”.
Mr Mitchell, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Rwanda, went on: “I don’t think [the scheme] will work.
“It is impractical, it is being condemned by churches and civil society, it is immoral and - above all for Conservative advocates - it is incredibly expensive. The costs are eye-watering.
“It looked, when it was discussed before, that it would actually be cheaper to put each asylum seeker in the Ritz Hotel in London.”
Meanwhile, Illegal Migration Minister Tom Pursglove was confronted with his own Government’s warnings about Rwanda in a car crash interview today.
The Tory complained there had been “appalling stereotypes thrown around” about the East African country this week.
But Sky News presenter Niall Paterson questioned his claim, quoting Foreign Office Advice.
He said: “Homosexuality is not illegal in Rwanda but remains frowned on by many. LGBT individuals can experience discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities.
“That is the advice given to gay people in this country from the Foreign Office, just round the corner from you!”
