Andrew Western MP for Stretford and Urmston
Andrew Western, the MP for Stretford and Urmston, recently spoke out about the Government’s refusal to publish the cost of its ill-thought out and inhumane Rwanda Scheme.
Under Government plans, asylum seekers arriving in the UK would be sent to Rwanda, where they’d have their asylum accessed. Under this five-year pilot scheme, Ministers said that if successful, people could be granted refugee status in the UK. If their claims failed, individuals could apply to settle in Rwanda, or seek asylum in another country.
The Government argues that its Rwanda Scheme would stop people from illegally arriving into the UK across the English Channel on small boats.
However, the plan was blocked due to legal challenges and in November 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the scheme was unlawful. Despite this, the Government is still trying to push ahead with its cruel proposal, all whilst refusing to disclose how much the scheme would cost the British taxpayer.
Andrew Western said: “This debate was specifically about the Government’s refusal to publish the full costs of the scheme. As I said in my contribution, this is an affront to transparency and accountability.
“We know the cost is at least in the hundreds of millions. That cash could be spent much better actually processing asylum claims and dealing with the huge backlog rather than a scheme that looks destined to fail and has been repeatedly ruled illegal.”
During this debate, Andrew also called out the Government over claims it has cleared asylum backlogs.
He said: “It is categorically false to claim that these backlogs have been cleared. The current overall backlog is almost 100,000 asylum cases. Even so, the so-called “legacy backlog” remains at 4,500 cases. Amidst this chaos, Home Office officials have admitted that as many as 17,000 asylum seekers are now missing from their system and they have no clue where they are.”