Labour will not deport a single asylum seeker to Rwanda, Yvette Cooper confirms

Labour will not deport a single asylum seeker to Rwanda, Yvette Cooper confirmed on Tuesday.

Hours after the controversial deportation bill passed through parliament, the shadow home secretary reiterated Labour’s promise to scrap the scheme if it wins the next election.

Ms Cooper said the party would “replace the Rwanda scheme with cross-border policing and a new returns and enforcement unit”.

And, pressed by Sky News on whether in the “interim” a Labour government could send asylum seekers to Rwanda, Ms Cooper said “no, that is not our plan”.

She added: “We are not going to do the Rwanda scheme, because every time you do, you have to write more cheques.”

The intervention came as five migrants died in an attempt to cross the English Channel just hours after Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill was passed by parliament.

The French coast guard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel on Tuesday morning.

A spokesperson said its agents were still operating at sea after what the official called a ‘busy’ morning, with several crossing attempts.

The Safety of Rwanda bill cleared parliament shortly after midnight after peers backed down, ending resistance to the scheme.

Mr Sunak said on Tuesday that "nothing will stand in the way" of ministers getting flights to Kigali off the ground.

Preparations for the first flights will begin within days, with asylum seekers who could be relocated being identified and potentially detained.

Charter planes are expected to leave for Rwanda in 10-12 weeks, with Mr Sunak promising "multiple flights a month", although ministers have conceded numbers being sent to Kigali would be small at first.

Responding to the bill passing parliament, Ms Cooper said: “The new Rwanda law is an extortionately expensive gimmick rather than a serious plan to tackle dangerous boat crossings.

“This is the third new law the Tories have passed on Channel crossings in two years - each one has made the chaos worse and even senior Tory MPs don’t believe this third law will work.”

Her comments came as the illegal migration minister confirmed victims of torture and trafficking will be eligible for deportation to Rwanda.

In a tetchy interview after the controversial asylum bill passed through parliament, Michael Tomlinson insisted Rwanda is a “safe country” and confirmed it “will be possible” to send torture and trafficking victims to the east African nation.

And, under pressure from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Tomlinson refused to answer “a whole raft” of questions about who would be covered by the scheme.

Speaking to the BBC’s Mishal Husain, Mr Tomlinson said there would be “a whole range of legal challenges” to the bill, but insisted “we will meet them and the planes will take off”.

Ms Husain asked: “If you are a victim of torture, can you still be removed under this?”

Mr Tomlinson said: “Rwanda is a safe country, and yes it will be possible to remove those to Rwanda.”

Asked about victims of trafficking, Mr Tomlinson again said Rwanda “is a safe country”, but said furiously that “I’m not going to go through a whole raft of this”.

“This is rather frustrating, you have asked me a question, you can ask me a series of questions. Could you do this challenge? Could you do that? You could ask me an infinite number of challenges.

“You’re not going to get that clarity, because the act hasn’t yet come into force.”

He added: “I’m not going to go through line by line of the possibilities of the ins and outs of all the multifarious legal challenges that there possibly could be. There will be legal challenges, we will meet them and the planes will take off.”