Sir Keir Starmer has made clear he is open to such an approach, even as he has been fiercely critical of the Rwanda plan. Photo: Betty Laura Zapata
Sir Keir Starmer is being criticized by far-left group Momentum for his “disturbing” interest in processing asylum seekers abroad.
Earlier this month, the Labor leader said that despite on a promise to reverse Tory deportations from Rwandan politics, if he wins the post he will be open to “move offshore”.
This is the practice of deporting asylum seekers who arrive in the UK illegally to a third country, although – unlike the Rwanda plan – they would then be living in Britain if approved.
Momentum, a left-wing activist group set up to advancing Jeremy Corbyn's agenda when he was leader of the Labor Party, issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing Sir Keir's interest in offshoring.
It said: “This is a disturbing report. The Labor Party should not be the party of more deportations and more efficient offshoring, and it does not need to be. To minimize the number of dangerous small boat crossings, safe routes for refugees need to be expanded, migration experts say.
“Instead of emulating inhumane Tory policies such as transferring asylum seekers overseas, Keir Starmer should champion progressive values and migrant rights. In doing so, he can offer a practical alternative to the Tories' brutal and divisive war on migrants.”
According to The Times, Labor Party insiders have set three criteria for any offshoring scheme, namely that it must be cost-effective, a credible deterrent and “legally indefensible”.
The Tory proposal for deportation flights from Rwanda was recently accepted The Supreme Court was illegal, forcing Downing Street to sign a new treaty with Rwanda and propose new legislation to improve it.
Mr Sunak is pushing ahead with Boris Johnson's plan to take some asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats to Rwanda, where their cases will be processed.
< p>Under the plan, successful applicants will remain in Rwanda , and will not live in the UK. The idea Sir Keir is interested in would see successful applicants settled in the UK.
The Labor leader signaled his openness to offshoring during a question-and-answer session after a speech earlier this month, saying: “The Rwanda scheme… is a direct deportation scheme against people who have already arrived.
“In Other countries in the world do have schemes whereby people are redirected to other locations for processing. This is a different type of scheme and I will consider any scheme that might work
“The government has lost control of the numbers: thousands and thousands of people are coming and they are saying we can just send 100 people to Rwanda at a very high cost.”
Lord Blunkett, the former Labor Home Secretary, said: discussed immigration policy proposals with the party's current leadership.
He was involved in offshoring in the early 2000s when he was at the Home Office and told The Times: “People have the impression that you are getting tough. that you don't allow people to exploit the system here by disappearing.”
The Tories have long accused the Labor Party of not having a credible plan to deal with the influx of small boats carrying migrants across the English Channel in recent years.
The number of people crossing the border in small boats has fallen this year by a third, to around 30,000. But that is still far higher than Mr Sunak's “stop the boats” pledge.
Other national leaders, such as those in Austria, Germany, Italy and Denmark, have expressed interest translated into offshoring as the European Union faces increased illegal migration.
But Labor leaders have not said where they think offshoring might actually take place, leading to criticism from the Tories in the past that their approach would not work.
Home Office source said: “Sir Keir Starmer's Labor Party has voted for weaker immigration rules time after time and they will do everything they can to block measures to stop the boats “.
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