The Government’s plan to send male asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, part of a number of measures to improve the system, has been met with passionate opposition. The Refugee Council, the Bishop of Durham and the opposition parties have united to condemn the move as cruel and unwarranted. It is, moreover, expensive, given that the deal with the Rwandan government would cost £120 million. There are serious questions about how it would work, as well as the ethics; the UK cannot subcontract the processing of asylum claims. Australia has for years sent its asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, but that’s been far from problem-free.
The Prime Minister is, however, right to point out that there is a problem. Six hundred migrants crossed the Channel yesterday; in further good weather, 1,000 people might do so. The Home Secretary claims that the majority of those arriving are economic migrants; certainly in the case of those coming from EU countries, they are not fleeing persecution. Most failed asylum seekers are simply not returned.
The Government is also trying other measures, establishing more controlled migration centres and giving the Royal Navy responsibility for policing Channel crossings. What is urgently needed is an agreement with France for returning asylum seekers there, as well as a better means of making claims from abroad. Meanwhile, the system for processing asylum claims needs drastic reform; a recent report by the Independent Chief Inspector of
Borders found it was inefficient, inhumane and hugely expensive. The very least we can do for asylum seekers is deal with their cases compassionately and quickly. That £120 million could well be better spent.
Travel chaos
It will come as no comfort to Londoners waiting patiently at long airport check-in queues, or for their baggage to turn up, to hear about the blame game over who is responsible. Both aviation industry and Government seem to have been caught unawares by the predictable surge in demand for foreign holidays after two dreary Covid years of lockdowns.
Airports and airlines say they are recruiting the tens
of thousands of extra staff they need to cope — but are being held back by the slow processing of essential security checks. The Government says that they are turning around those checks efficiently and in line with their normal targets.
Clearly, anyone working airside at airports needs to be thoroughly vetted. But if the disruption now is to be avoided on a larger scale during the summer, both sides must do better. The travel industry must end the low
wage culture for essential but unseen workers such as baggage handlers, paid as little as £9 an hour. No wonder they are hard to recruit when Amazon van drivers can earn nearly twice that.
It’s lovely in London
But Londoners can look forward to an Easter weekend of weather as hot as Ibiza. So: why go abroad to encounter the horrors of delays and queues when we can bask in the sunshine here? Easter at home has a lot to be said for it.
