A message for the prime minister about his new immigration scheme: Not in my name

We’ve been paying poorer countries to deal with our unwanted rubbish for a long time now. It is hardly surprising that this government has come up with a similar approach to “illegal migrants”. What a great image for the UK.

Not in my name.

Ken Vettese

Aberdeen

Given that it can take more than a year for an asylum seeker to be processed when they live in this country, can someone explain to me how shipping asylum seekers to Rwanda (not the safest country in the world) will speed up the processing of their visas? To see the smirk on Priti Patel’s face, as she signed the deal, was shameful.

Ken Twiss

Cleveland

The prime minister has broken the law. Unfortunately, our undemocratic voting system allows for a party to have a large parliamentary majority with a minority of the vote, so the only way to get rid of him is for his MPs to turn against him. But they won’t; they know which side their bread is buttered.

The wealthy chancellor benefits from an anomaly of the tax system while taking as much from the poor as he can get away with. More and more people need food banks and are having difficulty heating their homes.

The latest ruse to distract us from these outrages is the immoral, expensive and probably ineffective plan to dump refugees on the authoritarian government of Rwanda. The claim is that this will discourage people-smugglers, but it might also pacify those who want to “take back control of our borders”.

It would appear that this government’s plan is to render UK residents so impoverished and the country so disreputable, that no one would choose to live here.

Susan Alexander

South Gloucestershire

A few weeks ago, Hugo Gye noted that “British sanctions on individual Russian oligarchs are being delayed over fears that wealthy businessmen will take the government to court”. Now, Boris Johnson is saying: “We are confident that our new migration partnership is fully compliant with our international legal obligations, but nevertheless we expect this will be challenged in the courts [by] a formidable army of politically-motivated lawyers.”

In other words, we can’t afford to upset rich people with no morals, but those who are destitute are fair game. One doesn’t have to look far for other examples. I am ashamed to live in a country governed by people like this.

Katharine Powell

Neston

What with the climate, Covid, energy, housing, homelessness, refugees and all the other crises, our entire government and crew (including the civil service) are completely out of their depth.

It’s like watching a real-life version of Das Boot, where the captain is forced to take his submarine down to previously unplumbed depths, trying to escape the charges from above coming his way.

Unfortunately, at this point, all the rivets holding the ship together are starting to pop, and the point of no return is long gone. The executive officer taking over at this stage is pointless.

As this ship we are talking about is an analogy for the country, it is likely we are all going to end up in a squashed sardine can at the bottom of the sea. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Liam Power

Dundalk, Ireland

In the good old days, this country had prime ministers that were stately and that we could be proud of. Leaders that could use a comb and wear a suit; attend world summits without embarrassing our once-great nation. They were law-abiding and respectful of the electorate; they could deliver a speech eloquently and answer the question at PMQs.

In the good old days, the ministerial code actually meant something. Where this will take us, who knows, but it feels like our once-proud nation is rapidly becoming an autocratic one.

Paul Morrison

Address supplied

The government’s Rwanda scheme will face a long struggle against opposition through the courts and from the House of Lords, but this is what Boris Johnson is hoping for because he has found his new “Brexit”.

Sometime soon, a new three-word slogan will appear, attached to this immigration scheme, designed to rally the hard-of-thinking people behind the party and be used to headline the next election campaign. Forget everything else that this awful administration is guilty of because once again, Boris is riding out to save the country from foreign hordes. It’s a real minefield for the opposition parties.

S Lawrence

Enfield

It is striking but not unexpected that the Tories have broken yet another manifesto pledge by failing to match billions of pounds worth of EU development funding for Scotland after Brexit.

The government pledged in its 2019 election manifesto that a new Shared Prosperity fund would “at a minimum” match the EU regional funds that were given to the UK from its EU membership contributions, and “reaffirmed” that commitment in last October’s Budget.

These funds were designed to support economic development and reduce regional inequalities, particularly through investment in small businesses, skills and innovation, the green economy and other infrastructure projects.

But the recent announcement of this fund will see only £32m allocated to Scotland for 2022-23, a staggering £130m less than expected to be an appropriate replacement for the EU cash.

It is clear that despite UK government assurances, the funding promised will not be delivered and this will hit key projects and communities. Like so many aspects of Brexit, this is yet another addition to a growing list of broken promises.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh