The Government has been accused of “flogging a dead horse” with the Rwanda scheme, two years after the proposal was first put forward.
MPs are currently debating the Safety of Rwanda Bill in the latest round of “parliamentary ping pong” between the two Houses of Parliament.
The Rwanda scheme was introduced in April 2022, by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, with the aim of deterring people from travelling to the UK on small boats across the English Channel.
Stephen Kinnock, a shadow Home Office minister, accused the Government of “two years of headline-chasing gimmicks”.
He added: “Two years of pursuing a policy that is fundamentally unworkable, unaffordable and unlawful. Two years of flogging this dead horse.”
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Kinnock said: “Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been sent to the Rwandan government. Civil servants, courts, parliamentarians, and journalists have spent countless hours, days and weeks discussing and writing about it.]]>