LABOUR are reportedly considering plans to have asylum claims processed abroad as an alternative to the Tories’ Rwanda plan.
Party officials and shadow ministers are drawing up plans to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in an effort to neutralise Conservative attack lines on immigration, The Times reports.
Their plans could see asylum seekers have their claims assessed abroad before arriving in the UK, through deals with other countries.
Labour are reportedly also consulting with immigration and asylum experts and is in talks with other European countries considering similar schemes.
Austria, Germany, Italy and Denmark are exploring ways to process asylum claims outside of the EU.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper (below) and shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock are in talks with David Blunkett, the former home secretary under Tony Blair.
In 2004, it was revealed Blunkett was in talks with the government of Tanzania to house failed Somali asylum seekers in a camp in exchange for aid payments to the country.
The plans never materialised but were defended in the Commons by Blair, who said: “I honestly cannot understand the objection to seeing whether it is possible, if people are going to make asylum claims and begin their asylum journey close to the country of origin, to try to process some of those claims there.”
He added that the proposed policy would be insufficient to tackle the “bulk of the asylum problem”.
The Times reported that Labour leader Keir Starmer’s “red line” for any policy would be schemes which automatically blocked an individual being granted asylum in the UK. British officials would also have to be in charge of processing the claims under the Labour plans.
Blunkett (below) told the paper it was important British officials were in charge of processing claims.
He said: “What’s absolutely crucial is who is doing the processing and that they’re allowed back into the country. Without it, you’re merely transferring the problem on to somebody else.
“But if British officials are doing the processing, then you’ve got a scheme that fits with the conventions.”
Alison Thewliss, the SNP's home affairs spokesperson, said: "Yet again, Keir Starmer's Labour Party is dancing to the Tory tune, this time on Rwanda and asylum.
"Sir Keir is so weak he has been forced to back Brexit, Tory spending cuts, NHS privatisation – and he is now caught in a trap over the absurd Rwanda plan, which has cost Scottish taxpayers millions of pounds.”
