Keir Starmer has dismissed the Rwanda plan as a “gimmick” and piece of political “performance art”.
Mr Starmer said Labour would use the money “being wasted on the Rwanda scheme” to step up cross-border policing to tackle human trafficking gangs and he vowed his party would also speed up asylum claim processing, with those refused permission to stay sent back to their country of origin.
He told BBC Breakfast: “What I wouldn’t do, and what I won’t vote for, is £290 million spent on a gimmick that is the Rwanda scheme, that won’t work, at the very most will take about 100 people.”