Migrants who have been refused asylum in the UK will be offered thousands of pounds to move to Rwanda under a new “voluntary” scheme drawn up by the government, according to reports.
The move, which is separate to the government’s plan to send to people to Rwanda to have their claims processed, has already been agreed with the east African country, The Times newspaper is reporting.
The new relocation scheme is designed to remove migrants who have no legal right to stay in the UK but cannot be returned to their home country.
The Home Office hasn’t yet confirmed the payment scheme, but has said it is “exploring voluntary relocations… to Rwanda”.
The Times reports it will be aimed at individuals who do not have an outstanding asylum claim and are in a position to be relocated swiftly to Rwanda, which the government deems a safe third nation.
Immigration officials will reportedly approach migrants whose asylum applications have failed and encourage them to accept the money and relocate to Rwanda.
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The scheme is said to be an extension of the existing Home Office voluntary returns scheme, under which migrants are offered financial assistance worth up to £3,000 to leave the UK for their country of origin.
Asylum seekers who refuse the financial incentive to move to Rwanda will be unable to officially work or claim benefits in the UK, The Times says.
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In response to the report, a Home Office spokesperson said: “In the last year, 19,000 people were removed voluntarily from the UK and this is an important part of our efforts to tackle illegal migration.
“We are exploring voluntary relocations for those who have no right to be here, to Rwanda, who stand ready to accept people who wish to rebuild their lives and cannot stay in the UK.
“This is in addition to our Safety of Rwanda Bill and Treaty which, when passed, will ensure people who come to the UK illegally are removed to Rwanda.”
The government is understood to believe the voluntary scheme can be brought into effect quickly because it will draw on existing structures outlined by the deportation agreement already in place with Rwanda and existing voluntary returns processes.
However, the new Rwanda deal would reportedly mark the first time migrants will have been paid to leave the UK without going back to their country of origin.
Image: Rishi Sunak’s pan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda is heading back to the Commons.
It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s legislation designed to revive his plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda – the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill – heads back to the House of Commons.
Changes backed by the Lords include overturning the government’s bid to oust the courts from the deportation process.
The extension of the voluntary scheme raises further questions about the bill, which is intended to prevent continued legal challenges to the stalled deportation scheme after the Supreme Court ruled the plan was unlawful.
Labour accused ministers of having to resort “to paying people” to go Rwanda because they know their deportation scheme “has no chance of succeeding”.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock MP said: “We know from the treaty that capacity in Rwanda is very limited, so ministers should now explain what this new idea means for the scheme as it was originally conceived, and they should also make clear how many people they expect to send on this basis, and what the cost will be.
“There have been so many confused briefings around the Rwanda policy that the public will be forgiven for treating this latest wheeze with a degree of scepticism.”
The prime minister had previously warned the House of Lords against frustrating “the will of the people” by hampering the passage of the bill, which has already been approved by MPs.
The Commons will get a chance to debate and vote on the amendments on 18 March.
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Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Image: Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Image: Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Image: Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Image: Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.