No10 defends Rwanda deportation scheme axe as EU considers utilizing it

Labour has insisted it was right to axe the £290million Rwanda deportations scheme, after Germany suggested the EU take over facilities paid for by UK taxpayers to house its own unwanted migrants.

No10 insisted that the scheme introduced by the previous Tory administration was an ‘expensive gimmick’, amid a growing political row over one of Keir Starmer‘s first decisions as Prime Minister.

Last night it was revealed Berlin‘s migration commissioner Joachim Stamp has proposed deporting those who arrive illegally in the EU via Poland‘s border with Belarus to Rwanda.

He proposes the bloc take advantage of hostels set up using British money, which Rwanda has refused to refund.

It came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper prepared to chair a summit today aimed at destroying the criminal gangs involved in smuggling people from France in small boats, after the deadliest crossing of the year so far.

The Home Secretary will lead the meeting of senior ministers, figures from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and intelligence services on Friday.

It follows the deaths of at least 12 people who attempted to cross the channel on Tuesday, after gangs crammed more than 70 people onto a tiny dinghy and set it on a course for England.

But Tory leadership frontrunner Robert Jenrick accused Labour of abandoning ‘the one credible deterrent’ against Channel migrant boats. 

Mr Jenrick told Sky News: ‘Yvette Cooper will meet the National Crime Agency and police chiefs today, and they’ll tell her what they told me when I was the minister, which is that although it’s important that we do that work, it is not sufficient. You have to have a deterrent.’

Their boat was ‘ripped open’ and sank off the northern French coast of Cap Gris-Nez. Only eight people were wearing a life jacket.

Amongst those killed were ten women, one of whom was pregnant, and six children. Another two people were left in a critical condition in hospital, and 51 people were saved.

Tony Smith, the former director general of UK Border Force, also told the BBC Labour should reconsider the Rwanda scheme. 

‘The key to deterrents is removals and we need to make it clear to migrants in France that are already in a safe country, that actually it won’t work, getting into a small boat, you won’t get to stay in the UK and that you are likely to be relocated elsewhere,’ he told Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘Rwanda was I think a very bold attempt by the last government that those who are already in safe countries, who are saying they fear persecution back home, won’t be sent back home actually, there is an alternative where you can live your life safely and that is Rwanda.

‘That would send the deterrent across the Channel – that it simply isn’t worth paying the money, putting your life at risk, your family’s lives at risk to get to the UK because it doesn’t follow that when you get into British territorial waters you will be allowed to stay here.’

Ahead of the meeting, Ms Cooper said: ‘Exploiting vulnerable people is at the heart of the business model of these despicable criminal smuggling gangs.

‘Women and children were packed into an unsafe boat which literally collapsed in the water this week.

‘At least 12 people were killed as part of this evil trade. We will not rest until these networks have been dismantled and brought to justice.’ 

Government ministers have previously condemned smugglers for packing increasing numbers of people on small boats and endangering lives.

More than 30 people have died in Channel crossings so far this year, compared with 12 who are thought to have died or were recorded as missing in 2023, according to the French coastguard. 

MailOnline calculates the figure to be at least 35, including two people who died on August 11 and a woman who suffocated in an overcrowded boat in July.

The Home Secretary will be joined at NCA headquarters in London today by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer, as well as representatives from the NCA, Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Representatives from the intelligence community will also be present, who have been helping the NCA penetrate and dismantle the smuggling gangs.

Ms Cooper added: ‘The last two months has seen encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe.

‘But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners.

‘At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.’

An analysis commissioned by the Home Secretary which dives into the gangs’ capability will be examined at the summit, which will also consider closer collaboration with European agencies such as Europol, and advancing the new Border Security Command.

Speaking after this week’s tragedy, Ms Cooper said: ‘What has happened off the coast at Le Portel is a horrifying and deeply tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the loved ones of all those who have lost their lives, and all those who have been seriously injured,’ she added.

‘I am in touch with my counterpart in France, Gérald Darmanin, and am being kept updated on the situation.

‘We pay tribute to the French coastguard and emergency services who undoubtedly saved many lives, but sadly could not save everyone. We will await the results of the French investigation into how this particular incident unfolded.

‘The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather.

‘They do not care about anything but the profits they make, and that is why – as well as mourning the awful loss of life – the work to dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs and to strengthen border security is so vital and must proceed apace.

‘All government services are mobilised to find the missing and take care of the victims.’

UK coastguards were not involved in the rescue effort due to the sinking happening so close to France. 

The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 21,977.

This is 3 percent higher than at this point last year, when the total stood at 21,372, but 20 percent lower than at this stage in 2022, when the total was 27,409.

There have been 2,683 arrivals in the past nine days, from August 27 to September 4 inclusive – the highest in any nine-day period so far this year.

There were 29,437 arrivals across the whole of 2023, down 36 percent on a record 45,774 in 2022.