Meeting with Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
It was good to meet Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs yesterday to discuss the new immigration plan and economic partnership. I was introduced to him by Tom Pursglove, the Immigration Minister. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently the Chair of the Backbench Policy Committee on Home Affairs.
It was good to learn more about the plans and the ways in which Rwanda seek to support the individuals in question once they’ve been deported to Rwanda. Rwanda is a fast-growing economy and I was pleased to here about all the opportunities that exist there.
The first people have been notified that they’re in line to be deported to Rwanda and I hope to see the first planes start departing shortly. Clearly there is a lot of opposition from human rights lawyers who frankly have no alternative to the plan that the Government have outlined. However I’m confident that in time these challenges will be overcome and this partnership with Rwanda will be a success.
We’ve got to end the current situation where we’ve got huge numbers of people paying people smugglers and risking their lives to cross the channel in un sea worthy vessels. We’ve got to make this route unviable and the Rwanda plan is a key way in which the Government are looking to do this.
Leave a Reply