Conservative party chair calls for return of failed Rwanda scheme

The chair of the Conservative party has called for the failed, racist Rwanda scheme to be reinstated. Kevin Hollinrake was quoted in the press arguing it was a better option than housing asylum seekers in a Yorkshire RAF base.

The Tory Rwanda scheme would have seen asylum seekers relocated to the African state. One of former PM Keir Starmer’s first moves upon taking power in 2024 was to scrap the scheme.

Hollinrake said:

We, in a previous government, decided where to put them, we said they should be detained and deported back to their home country, or if they couldn’t go to their home country they should go to Rwanda.

His comments followed an alleged Home Office attempt to apply:

for planning permission to house asylum seekers at former RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York, and two other Ministry of Defence sites.

They say this will help them close asylum hotels. The Yorkshire Post reported:

locals have reacted in uproar at the prospect of 1,300 men being housed in a small village of 650 people.

Rwanda scheme redux?

Hollinrake said:

Illegal migrants should not be in anybody’s community. That’s the reality. Whether it’s in hotels, houses of multiple occupation or air bases or military bases.

He added:

I set about a campaign with others in the local community in a village near me in my constituency in the last Parliament, because I think it’s totally wrong they should be in these communities.

Hollinrake, who is the current MP for Thirsk and Malton, said:

These people coming across the Channel should be detained in detention centres pending their immediate deportation back to their home country or a safe third country.

He invited the new Labour PM to work with the group:

That’s what should happen — Andy Burnham could work with us tomorrow to do exactly that.

As the Canary reported way back in 2022:

This scheme comes alongside the inhumane and discriminatory Nationality and Borders Bill, which seeks to criminalise vulnerable people seeking refuge in the UK. The European Court of Human Rights is questioning the lawfulness of plans to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda, a country with a poor human rights record.

For the Tories, violent deportations and a general love for anything carceral are eternal brain-worms. These kinds of dog-whistles allow them to appear relevant and appeal to the very worst tendencies in British public life. The Rwanda scheme encapsulated the current reactionary state of UK politics. And it completely failed to address the global instability which drives desperate refugees to come to the UK.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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