Lives will be lost if Rishi Sunak’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is wrecked, illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson has warned. Mr Tomlinson says getting the deterrent in place is a “moral mission”, warning that “there is nothing compassionate about letting people drown in the Channel”.
The Government is racing to get its Safety of Rwanda Bill – designed to prevent legal challenges stopping the first flights taking off – onto the statute book.
Ministers will this week try to reverse a raft of changes made to the Bill in the Lords with the goal of the first flights leaving this spring.
Mr Tomlinson told the Sunday Express: “It’s absolutely a moral mission. We’ve just got to get it done. We’ve got to see it through. Now is the time.”
The minister is concerned that smuggling gangs are herding people into “increasingly shabby deathtraps”. He says the gangs are “getting more desperate, and crossings are getting even more deadly,” adding: “In 2023, 11 people lost their lives in the Channel, and we’ve already seen nine deaths since the start of this year alone.
The planned inaugural flight was grounded in June 2022 after an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights. The scheme was hit with another setback in November last year when the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful.
In recent weeks the Government has suffered 10 defeats in the Lords, with peers changing the Bill so courts could consider whether Rwanda is a safe country.
Mr Tomlinson argues the delays must stop and says there is a “chance” the Bill could become law by Easter.
He said: “The Rwanda Bill is back in the House of Commons tomorrow. Let’s get it passed, get these flights off the ground, and stop the boats.”
Champions of the plan expect other European countries may well replicate it if it is a success. “The world is, I think, watching and waiting for this Rwanda scheme to work,” he said.
He describes Labour’s opposition to the Rwanda plan as “utter madness”. “They are saying on one hand they will smash the gangs,” he said. “On the other hand they are voting against the legislation that enables us to do just that.”
According to an analysis by Migration Watch, “crossings begin in earnest around May” and the calm weather in late summer brings a “major influx”. Mr Tomlinson has major concerns about the risk to life, describing the vessels as “absolutely unseaworthy vessels”.
He said: “The people smugglers don’t care of the migrants are going to live or die, they just care about getting the money into their pockets and then packing as many people into the boats as possible.”
The 46-year-old minister has warm words for his French counterparts, insisting they are “working incredibly closely”.
In the coming months he will open a “zonal coordination centre”.
“That’s part of a command and control centre where we’ll have people actually embedded there with our French counterparts, but they take it incredibly seriously,” he said. “The French politicians as you can imagine are just as concerned as I am as a constituency MP.”
The contents of the Rwanda Bill were the focus of intense debate with the Conservative party but he insists MPs have come together behind the measures.
“We are united in our mission to stop the boats,” he said. “We are united in our mission to make sure this Rwanda scheme works.”
However, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it is “failing”. She said: “After 14 years in power the Conservatives have lost control of our borders and everything is in chaos. Their failing Rwanda scheme is a gimmick that will only cover around 300 people and will cost an eye-watering £2million per person.
“Labour will put that money instead into boosting our border security, with new cross border police to smash the smuggler gangs and tackle the root causes of the problem.”
