Downing Street rejects suggestion that racism at play in scrapping Rwanda scheme

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Downing Street has denied that the Government’s decision to scrap the scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was racist after James Cleverly suggested it showed a “disdainful attitude” to Rwanda.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman rejected a suggestion by the shadow home secretary that there was a racial element to the Labour Government deciding to nix the agreement, saying the scheme was scrapped because it was ineffective.

Mr Cleverly told Times Radio that the Labour Government cancelled the agreement with the Rwandan government “without even having the good grace to contact them directly to inform them”, which he said would not have happened had the deal been with a European country.

When asked if he was saying the decision was racist, Mr Cleverly said: “You and I both know that this would never have happened like this had it been with a European country. It’s because there is a below-the-salt disdainful attitude to African countries and the Rwandan government.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman rejected the suggestion that racism was at play in the decision to scrap the scheme.

He told reporters: “The decision to scrap the scheme was based on the scheme being a completely ineffective policy.

“You’ve seen the situation where small boat crossings are at a record high this year. Clearly, the current system is not working.

“Our border security is being undermined by criminal gangs, the asylum system is in chaos, we’ve inherited weak security enforcement arrangements, we’ve got tens of thousands of asylum seekers stuck in an endless backlog, housed in hotels without their claims ever being looked at.

“So that was why the Home Secretary laid out the next steps yesterday to clear the backlog and protect our border, investing the money that would have gone to Rwanda into law enforcement needed to protect our border, intensifying our returns and enforcement program and getting the asylum system moving again.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that the Rwanda deportation scheme cost Britain £700 million despite only four volunteers being sent to Kigali.

She called the policy the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”.