What the papers say – April 15
Good Friday’s front pages report on Boris Johnson’s controversial scheme to ‘process’ Channel migrants offshore.
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Your support makes all the difference.The Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda dominates the papers for the second consecutive day.
“Inhumane and it and won’t work,” says The Daily Mirror‘s front page, quoting the scheme’s critics which includes an unnamed former Home Office official.
The Guardian similarly leads with an assessment of the proposal as “inhumane”, citing Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi who called it “ineffective and costly” and said it shames Britain’s “proud history as advocates of human rights “.
The Independent reports that “just months” before the Prime Minister agreed to “deport thousands of asylum seekers” to Rwanda, Britain condemned the east African country for “failing to investigate human rights violations”.
The i says Home Secretary Priti Patel is bracing for a “legal battle” over the Government’s “cruel” Rwanda plan.
“No migrant boat will go undetected”, declares the Daily Express, quoting Mr Johnson’s speech on Thursday in which he announced the Navy has been tasked with tackling the “Channel migrant crisis”.
The Daily Mail praises the “Rwanda plan” and labels those criticising the scheme “Left-wing lawyers and naysayers”.
Elsewhere, The Daily Telegraph reports on the British man who has been caught by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine. The paper says Aiden Aslin was “paraded on Russian television” after being “severely beaten”.
The Sun splashes with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s surprise visit to the Queen and speculates it signals the couple offering an “olive branch” to the royal family after “snubbing the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial”.
And the Daily Star hits out at the Home Secretary for forgiving the PM and Chancellor over their lockdown law-breaking, noting that Ms Patel “previously demanded neighbours dob on one another for flouting Covid laws”.