'Paying another country to solve our problem isn't moral' says Shelagh Fogarty as Rwanda plan is ruled unlawful
29 June 2023, 14:49 | Updated: 29 June 2023, 15:04
Shelagh Fogarty explained that the government's rhetoric on migration is "dehumanising", and that Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick are "almost salivating" over the Rwanda plan.
Shelagh Fogarty began by reading out some of Rishi Sunak's statement in response to the Court of Appeal ruling that the plan to deport migrants to Rwanda was "unlawful".
The Prime Minister had said: "While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions...Rwanda is a safe country. The High Court agreed. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) have their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees in Rwanda. We will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
"The policy of this government is very simple, it is this country – and your government – who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs. And I will do whatever is necessary to make that happen."
In response, Shelagh said: "Of course we agree with Rishi Sunak that criminal gangs shouldn't decide who comes to this country, but what he doesn't mention any of that, is the government's own admitted terrible shortcomings in the Home Office and the asylum system more broadly."
She added that they are "terrible shortcomings that Suella Braverman herself has spoken about in the House of Commons and talked in pained language about how bad it is".
"Paying another country to solve our problem isn't moral, it isn't right", Shelagh continued, adding that the rhetoric that has been used to describe migrants has been "dehumanising".
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"Both ourselves, our nation and other nations need to take just a smarter, more humane approach", she said.
Shelagh went on: "Using the kind of language we've heard from Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, almost salivating over the plan...I don't think it's the vast majority of British people who want to behave in that way, faced with this hideous global dilemma that is not going away soon."