Sending U.K. refugees to Rawanda

Good post OakDryad

See, this is what I mean. Ends of noses.

There are quarter of a million empty homes in England alone, based on government figures. Some of them will be holiday homes, some will be in need of repair, some will be empty for purposes of claiming council tax, I don't know what else. But if a country can have quarter a million empty homes, then there are ways of re-purposing some of those homes to actually provide accommodation for the people who need it. Whether they are "boat people" or UK residents who find themselves homeless.

Complaining that we don't have enough accommodation for "ourselves" so we can't take in any body else is just letting the government off the hook. The government is prepared to accept that we have huge amount of housing stock not being used efficiently but that people can live in flats with mould growing through the walls.

If we had some imagination and a plan for actually helping people get adequate housing, we'd be a far more civilised society.

Well said OakDryad, I couldn't have put it better myself.

Whitewavemark2

Germanshepherdsmum

They are not all asylum seekers wwm. A great many are economic migrants who have no qualifications to enable them to work here and don’t speak English. Do you have an alternative method of stopping people smugglers whilst providing a safe route for people who are fleeing war and persecution rather than just seeing us as a soft touch?

You are allowing yourself to be brainwashed by this rabble.

These people are being shipped to one of the most dreadful places on this earth BEFORE anything concerning their status has been established.

This is a fascist policy.

Don’t support it.

I think you are being a little unfair WWM. You cannot build a dictatorship as far right as this government sets out to be without some people wanting just that, at least in the beginning. Some people are only too happy to embrace these policies. They are not in the least bit brainwashed.

However, as you quite rightly say, and as we can see in today's Russia, the majority that agree have been feed propaganda. People must be either in favour because this is their kind of politics or they are getting false information. Johnson's speech is so full of holes it should be called a colander!

Utterly despicable. A one way ticket to an African despot's country. An appeal to racist instincts about immigration. Is there anything Johnson won't do to distract the population from his monumental incompetence? And Patel is equally disgusting. For God's sake don't vote for them next time. Anyone but them, even the Monster Raving Loonies: at least they are decently honest.

It's a 'world's first' - I bet it is, what a boast!

Is there a lot of spare housing in Rwanda?

And did I hear Johnson describe Rwanda as a safe and dynamic country?

Great post OakDryad. The lack of humanity being shown towards our fellow humans is breathtaking.

How many Gransnetters can imagine themselves, or their families being so desperate that they trek many thousands of miles through often dangerous terrain, and with the risk of dying en route, in search of a safer and more settled life?
We are only one disaster, or war away from this happening to us.
Not so unlikely at all.

Anybody in any doubt that this government is institutionally racist now?

So Rwanda with its appalling human rights record is relieving us of caring for refugees? Really? Shame on you UK.

Katie59

I think Rwanda is an unworkable idea but there should be a safe humane place where migrant can stay safely while identities are checked

Maybe Alderney would fit the bill, that would make the UK a much less attractive destination

Why do you think this policy, which the government admits will breach International Law is, in any way, okay?

The last time we put people on an island off the UK, we were at war and had built interment camps there. Is that really what you want for refugees?

Interesting tweet

Iain Overton@iainoverton

I once asked the Home Office to list the gangs of 'evil people smugglers' that they claimed they had broken up operating on the UK's borders. They said it would cost too much to tell me.

You would have thought that if the HO had broken up gangs of evil people smugglers they would be pleased to release details.

Makes me wonder how much of this is just propaganda for the xenophobes

What OakDryad said - excellent post, thank you.

I've emailed my Tory MP yet again. It started about getting Mr Johnson to resign, but I added my disgust at this plan and asked how he and his colleagues could stand by while this sort of thing was planned. Of course, I don't expect him to reply, as he usually doesn't, but the heavier his Inbox is, the more, I hope, he will have to pay his secretary.

aonk

I’m upset about this too. I know that as the weather improves more migrants will cross the channel and the situation will become so very serious. Many people have criticised the government, rightly so, for not trying to deal with it. I sincerely hope that those critics aren’t happy with this “solution”. I wish someone could come up with a fair, humane and acceptable idea. Criticism is such a waste of time.

The appalling Rwanda suggestion has brought the matter to the forefront of the discussion and rightly so.

I wish someone could come up with a fair, humane and acceptable idea.

So true. But if anyone could come up with a fair, humane and acceptable idea, surely they would have done.

If Rwanda is seen to be just a vote catcher by some, how much more of a vote catcher would a fair and humane solution be? Why aren’t the government, or any political party suggesting a fair and humane solution?

Criticism without alternatives is easy to do. Coming up with something that will suit everyone is impossible as this thread shows.

Is anyone on GN in favour of cutting out the traffickers by laying on RN boats along the French coasts to pick up anyone who wants to come to the UK safely?

Or maybe having a direct line to the countries refugees are escaping from, to save them having to trek their families all the way to France.

We could refuse to set a limit on the number arriving and simply absorb them into the UK.

I forget what the latest figure for trafficked refugees is, but if we cut out the traffickers, that would mean the refugees/migrants would have a sum of money to start their new lives in the UK.

I wonder why Rwanda . Does it have some sort of tie with Britain ? Why not north Scotland which has a low population density? Or East Yorkshire even ? Funny idea of someone to send them somewhere already crowded. After the war they put up prefabs, couldn’t they do that again ?

Boris Johnson today handed responsibility for tackling the migrant Channel crossings crisis to the Royal Navy as he said the aim will be to ensure "no boat makes it to the UK undetected".

In my opinion he’s playing a blinder. By the way, I don’t think Ms Patel’s parents paid gang masters to come over here??

YOU ARE NOT A LEGITIMATE ASYLUM SEEKER IF YOU CROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL IN A DINGHY.
Sorry, to shout but it appears impossible to get this message through. If you leave a safe country where you could claim asylum to illegally enter another, deliberately avoiding official points of entry, you’re not an asylum seeker.

The world is not a smorgasbord for a person to pick from where they will ‘graciously’ accept their gift of asylum.

I have a feeling there’s quite a few ‘lurkers’ on here delighted with this surprise announcement today.

A straw poll? No need to post or engage (to be shot down by the usual vociferous posters on here).

Just post a ‘thumbs up’ sign if you agree with me (and Maudi Germanshephersmum) I think that would be interesting.

?

YOU ARE NOT A LEGITIMATE ASYLUM SEEKER IF YOU CROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL IN A DINGHY.

Yes you f***ing are.

Sorry, too vociferous for you?

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The Bishop of York last night was heard on Newsnight saying Rwandans were very nice people. He knows Kigali well having preached there.
?

Urmston, no one is suggesting Rwandan people aren’t ‘nice’
The majority view is this policy is shameful.

The straw that broke the camel’s back. I am a Tory, have struggled being a Boris Johnson’s government apologist to justify my vote for a long time.
I voted for many good things promised by this government, part of that was a control on immigration but I DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS inhumane, costly and vile scheme.
The money would be better spent on few a huge ships, maybe purchased from struggling cruise operators. We could take asylum seekers aboard offshore at point of entry, give them meals and a cabin for much needed sleep and use the vast ballrooms as processing areas. Employ an army of civil servants to fastrack the doctors, nurses, teachers, fruit pickers, cleaners, drivers, plumbers, electricians, builders and so many more so that they can be given back their self respect and can also be an asset to our country in the shortest possible time. If a few criminals slip through surely we’ll spot them soon enough and toughen up on deportation of major criminals. Maybe to Rwanda, they seem willing to do anything for a quick buck.
Invest in people, no matter who they are, and we’ll be repaid many times over.
Meanwhile those fast-tracked tradespeople can be employed restoring the rows of boarded up terraced houses, building new housing on brownfield sites, building the promised schools and hospitals and, all the while, paying tax to pay for it all. The entrepreneurs will build business, invent things we haven’t yet imagined and our country will be richer for it.
That’s the Tory policy I want to fight for. Education, aspiration and opportunity for all.
Surely a good, fast processing system is the way to thwart people traffickers.

Sorry, but these people are not ‘desperate’
They’ve made their way to several safe countries before they try & enter the UK.
They just think they’ll have a ‘better’ life here.
Well guess what. loads of people want a better life,
I want one!
Take genuine refugees yes.
But not these ( mostly young men ) who are basically just chancers.

Say something misleading, a lie in fact and then ask people to vote for you. Wait a second … where have I heard that before?

Please do read about the laws which protect people. Amnesty International and FreeMovement are good places to start.

An asylum-seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum. Asylum seekers have the right of entry into a country. Because they may indeed turn out to be refugees, the country has a duty to examine their claim and they cannot be turned back to their home country while this is going on.

What are you going to do if you have nothing left bar the clothes you stand up in? Beg a free ferry ride from that fine example of corporate morality P&O perhaps?

Btw my parents emigrated to New Zealand for a better life, then moved on to Fiji for a better life, I was sent to school in Australia for better education, we returned to the U.K. for my eleven plus to give me a better life. Orlin and I emigrated to Australia, when we married for a better life, we came back after ten years for a better career opportunity for Orlin. One of our sons has gone back to Aus with his family for a better life. Funny thing is, none of us have ever been referred to as an economic migrant.

I’m with you Urms. Why don’t they keep the vast sums they pay the smugglers to help them set themselves up in a European country rather than arriving here illegally and penniless?
There are families born in this country living in temporary bedsit accommodation provided by the local authorities who are charged with housing illegal immigrants. Similar families are also living in shocking substandard accommodation. We don’t have the housing, hospitals and other social infrastructure to look after British people properly yet there seems to be huge support here for carrying on as we have been even though a solution has at last been put forward. Anyone would think Johnson had instructed the Navy to machine gun all the boats and let them drown.

sounds as though they will have opportunities for work and business start ups in rwanda. Seems a pretty nice country tbh, not at all what I imagined

This could be the nail that finally gets rid of Johnson and his ilk, nobody of any decency could agree with this terrible cruel
proposal.
I’ve emailed my mp stating my overwhelming objection.
What have we become, heartbreaking.

That’s great LauraNorderr
But did you enter any of these countries in a dingy at 3 in the morning? Having paid a criminal £££££ for the pleasure?