Labour has been warned that processing asylum claims offshore could harm refugees and amount to “dancing to the Tory tune” on immigration, as it declined to rule out adopting such a policy.
The party has been looking at “offshoring” to deal with migration via illegal routes but charities, the SNP and the leftwing pressure group Momentum have said it would be a dangerous path to go down.
Keir Starmer said this month that he would look at offshore schemes where migrants are processed in a third country “usually en route to their country of destination”, saying that other European countries are also considering this.
The Times reported on Monday that Labour was also looking at all options for offshore processing of asylum claims as long as British officials did the assessment and migrants were not barred from claiming asylum if they had arrived by illegal means – unlike the government’s Rwanda scheme.
One senior Labour source expressed great enthusiasm for the idea of offshore processing of migrants claiming asylum, saying it was being considered.
However, other Labour sources downplayed the idea that it was anything more than just one option. One suggested it could be more about processing applications from refugees fleeing war when they have arrived in neighbouring countries, rather than sending migrants already arrived in the UK to completely unrelated nations.
Labour’s decision to consider a range of options for offshoring caused alarm among charities and drew criticism from some of its political rivals.
Alison Thewliss, SNP home affairs spokesperson, said Labour was yet again “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,” she said.
“The SNP is clear offshoring our fellow human beings is inhumane and immoral. The Labour party should be ruling out Rwanda-style plans, not helping to enable them.”
A Momentum spokesperson said it was “disturbing” that Labour was reportedly considering such a plan. “Labour should not be the party of more deportations and more effective offshoring, and it doesn’t need to be,” they said.
“As migration experts have said, the way to minimise perilous small boat crossings is to expand safe routes for refugees. Instead of aping inhumane Tory policies like offshoring asylum seekers, Keir Starmer should be standing up for progressive values and migrants’ rights. In doing so, he can offer a practical alternative to the Tories’ cruel and divisive war on migrants.”
Charities supporting refugees caught up in the government’s efforts to deport migrants who arrived via illegal means to Rwanda expressed dismay.
Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “The colour of their party rosettes may be different but it seems their morals aren’t. Outsourcing our international obligations to other countries is a shameful policy where everyone loses.
“It does nothing to protect people who are fleeing war, torture and persecution. Just like the outsourcing racket in public services, UK taxpayers’ money will be sent to other countries for no return, with hundreds of millions already paid to Rwanda under the Tories’ failing plan.
“And the UK’s reputation on the international stage will remain more Little Britain than Great Britain. All these expensive anti-refugee rhetoric and gimmicks when the only workable solution to Channel crossings is so simple and inexpensive – open safe routes for refugees to claim asylum in the UK. That’s what any serious, and progressive, incoming government would introduce.”
Natasha Tsangarides, the associate director of advocacy at Freedom from Torture, also criticised Labour for reportedly considering plans to process refugees overseas. She said: “We know that these schemes will always be harmful to survivors of torture. Survivors run the risk of not being identified in time and of being detained, further compounding the horrific trauma they’ve already experienced.
“Now is a real opportunity to finally move away from the divisive scaremongering and politics of hate. If Labour is serious about fulfilling the positive commitment it has already made to consider the asylum claims of all those arriving on our shores, then they must focus instead on rebuilding a fair and compassionate asylum system here in the UK.”
The government’s Rwanda plans have repeatedly failed in the courts and it has recently passed legislation aimed at bypassing elements of human rights laws to get the scheme to go ahead.
Of Labour’s plans, Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said: “Whether these plans meet the UK’s moral obligations is a matter for voters. But Good Law Project will absolutely want to make sure that government – of whatever political colour – meets its international and domestic legal obligations.”
