Priti Patel blasts ‘usual left-wing activists, lawyers and MPs’ in wake of Rwanda asylum ruling

Ex-home secretary Priti Patel has urged ministers to ‘move at pace’ in processing asylum claims in Rwanda after a deportation plan was declared lawful by judges.

Following the High Court’s ruling that the £120million scheme did not breach human rights laws, Ms Patel called on the Government to push forward with the asylum shake-up.

As the architect of the Rwanda plan from her time in the Home Office, the former Cabinet minister also delivered a stinging attack on those who have launched legal challenges against it.

She hit out at the ‘usual left-wing activists, lawyers and MPs’ who ‘have sought to do everything they can to block’ the sending of migrants to Africa.

Ms Patel claimed their action in delaying the implementation of the Rwanda scheme had ‘put more lives at risk’ as migrants continue to make perilous journeys across the Channel.

And she claimed they had given ‘succour’ to the ‘evil’ people-smuggling gangs who ‘facilitate this trade in human misery’.

Ex-home secretary Priti Patel has urged ministers to ‘move at pace’ in processing asylum claims in Rwanda after a deportation plan was declared lawful by judges

Ms Patel first announced the Rwanda plan – which intends to send those who enter the UK illegally on a one-way ticket to Africa to have their asylum claims processed – in April

She outlined the partnership with the east African nation as a means of providing a deterrent to migrants using small boats to cross the English Channel

Ms Patel first announced the Rwanda plan – which intends to send those who enter the UK illegally on a one-way ticket to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed – in April.

She outlined the partnership with the east African nation as a means of providing a deterrent to migrants using small boats to cross the English Channel.

But her attempts to get the scheme up-and-running were dramatically blocked in June when a planned first flight to Rwanda was abandoned after an 11th-hour ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

Ms Patel has since left the Home Office but her successor, Suella Braverman, has vowed to push ahead with the scheme.

She was boosted by yesterday’s High Court ruling, which rejected arguments that the plans were unlawful. 

Ms Patel has now put pressure on Mrs Braverman and her fellow ministers to act swiftly to implement the Rwanda scheme.

She wrote in The Sun: ‘When I signed the partnership I knew we would need to be prepared for legal challenges and I would like to thank the Government’s legal team for strongly defending the position.

‘I also put in place the resources so the partnership could be implemented, and the Government must now move at pace to ensure asylum claims start being processed in Rwanda, as the High Court has confirmed we can do.

‘Ministers must also take action to stop the European Court of Human Rights meddling in our border controls and be firmer with the EU to stop the waves of illegal migrants crossing the Continent to attempt to cross the Channel.’

In her blast at those who had tried to block the Rwanda scheme, Ms Patel suggested critics had ‘never offered any solutions’ to the Channel migrant crisis but ‘just attacks’. 

‘The usual left-wing activists, lawyers and MPs talked down this partnership and they have sought to do everything they can to block it,’ she added.

‘All they have done is delay the implementation of a vital measure to tackle this serious problem.

‘They continue to criticise those of us committed to facing this challenge and I’m sure we will see more legal challenges.

‘But the consequences of their actions are to put more lives at risk and give succour to the evil criminals who facilitate this trade in human misery.

‘Those who enter the UK illegally are also at risk of being exploited, which is another reason why we need to act.’