Vocal Voices

What a farce.
The impression has been given that we were going to ship illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
Fine, so how many? We got circa 30,000 across the Channel last year.
Think about it for five seconds and it's obvious that no way are the Rwandans going to take 30,000 illegals a year off our hands; that's just not going to happen and never was.

The Rwandan scheme was only ever designed imo to draw attention away from the vast amount of legal immigration.

In the year ending June 2023 according to the Office of National Statistics, the provisional estimate of total long-term immigration was 1.2 million, while emigration was 508,000.
You read that right. This "Conservative" government let 1.2 million people into the country, in one year.

Which no one really realises, because all the noise in the news is about "The Rwanda Scheme". It was a con from the start.

The number for net migration of 700,000 was in all the news outlets a few months ago. Everyone who watched TV, listened to the radio or read a newspaper knew about it. There were "letters to the editor" and daily HYS comments on the BBC website.

But, yes, the Rwanda scheme was and is a distraction. The numbers simply do not add up. Once a person gets on a boat in the channel without a passport or other identification, they are acting illegally even though they might be genuine refugees or asylum seekers - that's very unlikely. It means that every single one could be sent to Rwanda.

What is never ever mentioned in the figures are the demographics and economic statuses of those coming in and those leaving. We can all hazard a guess as to why that might be.

It is now reported that the Joint Committee on Human Rights - a mix of MPs and Peers from all sides - has said that the 'proposed legislation "risks untold damage" to the UK's reputation as an international leader on the issue' most notably Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

They also attacked the move to allow ministers to decide whether or not to abide by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights over deportations. This, they say, invites the possibility of the UK breaching international law.

Passing a Bill to say that a country is a "safe place" does not make it so.