Video Transcript:
Illegal migration Minister Michael Tomlinson who said he can guarantee flights carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda will happen before the next election.
It’s a bold statement if it does happen. What will be the political significance? Well, bold is a very kind description. Now one might say rash would be a more appropriate description. I mean if they do get Rwanda off the ground and they get it off the ground in time for it to make a difference that second one is actually often ignored.
We talk of getting a plane in the air is it you know but it isn’t, it’s actually got to make the difference. If they do manage to do that before the next election and now it sounds as if that’s definitely going to be in October because they’re not going to do it before May. If they’re going to do that before the next election yeah that would help them, but they’re not we all know they’re not.
Editors Comment:
It seems inconceivable that any flights to Rwanda will leave the UK ahead of the general election, especially not in significant numbers that might start to shape a deterrent, such as it may be.
With the best will in the world, flights would need to be significant to act as a deterrent and flights in volume look highly unlikely to be delivered.
Migration numbers look set to continue to be a major issue in UK politics as the government act too slowly to fix a problem of their making. The open door policy currently being implemented by our Tory government has allowed mass migration, has allowed our population to grow by over 10 million in the last two decades. Yes, the open doors policy started under the last labour government, but the Tories have had 14 years to close the door and have failed to do so.
The government has a list of 33,000 migrants earmarked for flights to Rwanda, the big, big question is, how many will ever be sent and will it deter a single boat from crossing the channel?