'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'

Migrants travel in an inflatable boat across the English Channel, bound for Dover

(Image credit: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty)

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Sunder Katwala in The Independent
Michael C. Bender and Katie Glueck in The New York Times
Alberte Lauridsen in The Guardian
Financial Times editorial board

published 16 January 2024

There is only one realistic way to reduce the number of Channel deaths

Sunder Katwala in The Independent

The recent deaths of five migrants trying to cross the "icy" English Channel were "a sombre reminder" of our need for a functioning asylum system, writes Sunder Katwala, director of non-partisan think-tank British Future, for The Independent. But the row over the government's "troubled Rwanda policy" highlights how "deeply divided" our politicians are on the issue. The Rwanda bill, if passed, would remove just 1% of asylum seekers, and fails to provide alternative safe routes. It increasingly looks "less like a deterrent, than a distraction".

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