Several EU capitals will tomorrow announce a deal to start sending rejected migrants to Rwanda, raising fresh questions about why Labour ditched the Tories‘ flagship deportation scheme.
Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands will unveil the deal – aimed at reducing illegal land border and Mediterranean boat crossings – in Austrian capital Vienna after months of talks.
It will allow them to start deporting migrants without a legal right to stay in the bloc to the African nation from as early as the New Year.
A deportation hub created in Rwanda would function as a pilot project and deals with other non-EU countries – and involving other EU nations – are set to follow. Deportations to Uzbekistan and Uganda are understood to be on the cards.
It comes after the bloc passed a new law in June giving European capitals the powers to create so-called overseas ‘return hubs’ in non-EU countries to tackle illegal crossings.
It is part of a wider EU push to get tougher on migration to stave off a rising tide of Right-wing and Eurosceptic sentiment sweeping the bloc.
Over half of the EU’s 27 member nations have backed the idea of offshore processing centres.
Labour ruled out sending Channel boat arrivals overseas by scrapping the Tories’ Rwanda deportation plans after winning the 2024 election
By contrast, one of Keir Starmer’s first acts after entering Downing Street in 2024 was to scrap the previous Tory government’s Rwanda deportation scheme, which aimed to act as a deterrent to small boat migrants crossing the Channel.
His successor Andy Burnham has indicated he could shift this position, saying his Government will watch any deals struck by EU nations ‘with interest’ and keep the situation ‘under review’.
Chairman of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs, Mark Francois, said: ‘How ironic that Labour abandoned the previous Conservative Rwanda Scheme, only to now witness a number of EU countries, including Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, actively preparing to adopt something similar.
‘Now that we are discovering what an absolute Europhile Andy Burnham really is, perhaps he could take a leaf out of their book and revive Rwanda as a real deterrent to illegal boats continuing to arrive on our shores.’
Tory MP Greg Smith added: ‘As the boats continue to come, Labour are failing to take the necessary steps to combat this illegal flow of migrants to the UK.
‘The most obvious failing was Labour scrapping the Rwanda partnership – a scheme now being taken up by so many other countries the Government professes to admire.’
While Channel crossings are down by around 40 per cent compared to last year, Labour has not stopped the boats, with another 454 arriving on eight boats on Saturday.
And figures have shown that a larger proportion are making it across the Channel because the French authorities are intercepting fewer boat launches as people smugglers move operations further away from Calais and Dunkirk.
They have also increasingly been using ‘mega dinghies’ capable of carrying 100 or more migrants to get larger numbers across the Channel in one go.
Tomorrow’s deal would only apply to asylum seekers who had exhausted all of their options for securing legal residence in the EU and were rejected.
The Tories’ plans would have allowed deportations before asylum claims were processed.
But it was slapped down by the Supreme Court in 2023, which ruled it unlawful.
After winning the 2024 election, Labour shelved the plans rather than try to make them work, with Sir Keir calling the Rwanda plan ‘dead and buried’.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Home Secretary has been clear that the UK, like other European countries, is exploring innovative approaches including returns hubs to tackle illegal migration.
‘We will continue working with international partners to strengthen returns, remove those with no right to be here and restore control to our borders.’
