New UK PM Keir Starmer Scraps Rwanda Plan, Terms It 'Gimmick'

Keir Starmer, the new Labour Prime Minister of Britain, announced on Saturday that he will not continue the previous Conservative government's scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.

Speaking at his first news conference, Starmer described the Rwanda scheme as "dead and buried" and dismissed it as a "gimmick" that failed to deter migration.

Photo Credit: PTI

"The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started... I'm not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don't act as a deterrent," he told reporters at his first news conference.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had prioritised the controversial deportation plan as part of his strategy to "stop the boats" from crossing the English Channel, despite facing opposition from rights groups and legal challenges.

The Labour Party has decided to abandon this approach, which aimed to remove people to Rwanda who crossed the Channel by boat from northern France, reported AFP.

Immigration has become a significant political issue in the UK since it left the European Union in 2020, with promises to regain control of the country's borders playing a central role in the Brexit campaign.

Starmer slammed Sunak's policy as neither effective nor cost-efficient, and pledged to address the problem by targeting the people-smuggling networks facilitating the crossings.

Central to Starmer's new policy will be the establishment of an "elite" Border Security Command, which will include immigration and law enforcement experts as well as members of the domestic intelligence service MI5. This new unit aims to combat the smuggling gangs that operate upstream.

According to the UK Home Office, 12,313 people have crossed the Channel to Britain so far this year, marking an 18 percent increase from the same period last year. In 2023, there were 29,437 arrivals, a 36 percent decrease from the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.