Sir Keir Starmer has ‘no doubt’ Rwanda flights will get off ground – but Labour would cancel scheme ‘straight away’
Sir Keir Starmer has said he has no doubt the government will get flights off the ground to Rwanda but Labour would “cancel the scheme straight away” if they win the next general election.
The Labour leader, announcing his party’s policy on illegal immigration in Dover, said the government’s flagship policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will not work.
“They will get flights off the ground, I don’t doubt that but I also don’t doubt it will not work,” he said.
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When asked by Sky News political editor Beth Rigby if that means he would stop any deportation flights to Rwanda on day one of a Labour government, he said: “We will scrap the Rwanda scheme.
“I said that to you when we last met last week, the time before last and you know, that means ending the scheme.
“Absolutely. Flights and all.”
He added: “We will cancel the scheme – of course that means we won’t operate the scheme at all, it’s a gimmick, I won’t flog a dead horse.
“We’re going to get rid of the policy straight away.”
Labour later clarified the party would not stop any flights already planned but would not schedule any further.
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‘Small boat crossings is one of the greatest challenges we face’
The government’s Rwanda scheme, aimed at deterring asylum seekers arriving in the UK in boats over the Channel, has been stalled by legal arguments but last month became law. However, no flights have yet departed.
The scheme means any asylum seeker entering the UK illegally from a safe country such as France could be sent to Rwanda where their asylum claims would be processed. They would not be allowed to apply to return to the UK.
As Sir Keir announced Labour’s plans to stop small boats coming across to the UK, Sky News witnessed a Border Force boat with about 70 migrants, including at least one child, disembarking in Dover after being picked up in the Channel.
In the speech in Dover alongside new Labour MP Natalie Elphicke, Sir Keir insisted “our asylum system must be rebuilt”.
As part of Labour’s plan, he announced:
• A new Border Security Command, funded by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, with “hundreds of specialist investigators” from the NCA, Border Force, CPS, MI5 and Immigration Enforcement
• Hopes for a new partnership with Europol and new intelligence-sharing networks
• New counter-terrorism powers to allow officers to conduct stop and searches at the border, close bank accounts, trace movements and shut off internet access of people smugglers
• A rules-based asylum system with fast-track reforms, an enforcement unit and a returns agreement with the EU.
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The Labour leader said: “We will restore serious government to our borders, tackle this problem at source and replace the Rwanda policy permanently.”
Turning a blind eye to people smuggling was “not a progressive or compassionate position”, Sir Keir said.
He said “our asylum system must be rebuilt and our borders must be secured”, and accused the Tories of being driven from a serious party of government “onto the rocks of their own delusion” in their pursuit of “gesture politics” over immigration.
“Our rules-based system should align with global rules that protect individual human rights,” Sir Keir added.
“That is in our interests and the right thing to do.”
Sir Keir Starmer with new Labour MP Natalie Elphicke. Pic: PA
Sir Keir insisted new Labour MP Ms Elphicke’s defection from the Tories on Wednesday reflected the mood of the country as Rishi Sunak is “clinging on” to power.
Asked if he was concerned about the backlash from within the Labour Party to Ms Elphicke’s defection, he said: “This is a very important and significant crossing of the floor for reasons Natalie set out.
“I think anyone reading the words she set out this morning would be persuaded this is a very significant thing, you’ve got a Tory party that is losing votes, losing MPs, losing councillors, losing mayors across the country.”
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Migrant pays to return to France
Reacting to Sir Keir’s announcement, Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “Labour have no plan to stop the boats.
“Labour have an illegal immigration amnesty, Labour blocked of the deportation of violent sexual offenders and Labour voted over 130 times against tougher legislation to stop the boats. They will create a haven for criminal gangs, not stop them.
“Even Labour MPs are saying Labour can’t be trusted to stop the boats which shows you nothing will change.
“If people can apply for asylum from outside the UK then unlimited claims can be made, many of which will have to be accepted under the law and even then, many of those declined will then get on a small boat anyway.”
Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her “lawyers are ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh.
Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Ms Siddiq said “why don’t you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer… [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me and I’m waiting to hear from them”.
The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh.
In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.
Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.
Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.
The letter said the ACC must put questions to Ms Siddiq “by no later than 25 March 2025” or “we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer”.
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Staff from the NCA visited Bangladesh as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country.
In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired and the authorities had not replied.
Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment.
The allegations against Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.
Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.
She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests, extra-judicial killings and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Hasina claims it’s all a political witch hunt.
Electrocuted on their genitals and mouths sewn up: Inside Bangladesh’s ‘death squad’ jails
Ms Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties.
Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter.
“He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said.
The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients.
The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor.
“He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added.
OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms.
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said.
Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement.
Source: Linda Lacewell
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After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program.
“Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post.
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United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
The reciprocal levies on will be approximately half of what trading partners charge for US imports, Trump said. For example, China currently has a tariff of 67% on US imports, so US reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods will be 34%. Trump also announced a standard 25% tariff on all automobile imports.
Trump told the media that tariffs would return the country to economic prosperity seen in previous centuries:
“From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation. The United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been. So wealthy, in fact, that in the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting.”
“Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying,” Trump said.
Full breakdown of reciprocal tariffs by country. Source: Cointelegraph
Trump presented the tariffs through the lens of economic protectionism and hinted at returning to the economic policies of the 19th century by using them to replace the income tax.
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Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue
Trump proposed the idea of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and funding the federal government exclusively through trade tariffs while still on the campaign trail in October 2024.
According to accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, Trump’s plan could save each American taxpayer $134,809-$325,561 in taxes throughout their lives.
US President Donald Trump addresses the media about reciprocal trade tariffs at the April 2 press event. Source: Fox 4 Dallas
The higher range of the tax savings estimate will only occur if other wage-based taxes are eliminated at the state and municipal levels.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who assumed office in February, also voiced support for replacing the IRS with the “External Revenue Service.”
Lutnick said that the US government cannot balance a budget yet consistently demands more from its citizens every year. Tariffs will also protect American workers and strengthen the US economy, he said.
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