Yvette Cooper has hit out at the Conservative Party for what she dubbed migration "gimmicks", vowing to overturn the Rwanda scheme even if flights begin taking off
The Shadow Home Secretary said Labour's plan would save the taxpayer 'billions of pounds'
Additional reporting by Christopher Hope
Yvette Cooper has hit out at the Conservative Party for what she dubbed migration "gimmicks", vowing to overturn the Rwanda scheme even if flights begin taking off.
The Shadow Home Secretary told GB News that a Labour Government would end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in a move she said would save the taxpayer "billions of pounds".
The Labour Party last night unveiled a new plan to tackle migration, which would involve the creation of a 1,000-strong Returns and Enforcement Unit.
Speaking to Christopher Hope about the plan, Cooper said: "We need to strengthen our border security and fix the chaos in the asylum system because, under the Conservative Government, we've seen criminal gangs take hold along the Channel and then this huge soaring backlog with asylum hotel use that is costing the taxpayer billions.
"So instead of all the gimmicks that we've had from Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives, our plan is to get a grip.
"That starts with the new cross-border police to go after the criminal gangs, to smash the gang networks and prevent boats arriving on the French coast in the first place.
"And that also means setting up a new Returns and Enforcement Unit, because the returns of failed asylum cases have dropped by 40 per cent since the Conservatives came to power.
"So we've got to get a grip on that and that would be part of our plan to clear the backlog to end asylum hotel use, and also to save the taxpayer billions of pounds."
The Shadow Home Secretary said the plan would "likely cost in the tens of millions of pounds but it's part of a plan that would actually save the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds".
She added: "At the moment the Conservative Home Office has actually busted their budget by more than £5 billion.
"Some of that is around asylum hotels, some of that is around the Rwanda scheme, which is only going to cover less than one per cent of those arriving in the country - to the cost of around £2 million per asylum seeker.
"And that is the British taxpayer writing those cheques, just as part of the gimmicks instead of getting a proper grip."
Cooper said a Labour Government would scrap the Rwanda scheme and instead put money into "strengthening our border security".
"Let's actually start to tackle some of the problems at source and go after those criminal gangs that are making a fortune from putting lives at risk and undermining our border security", she added.
Labour said its proposed Returns and Enforcement Unit will speed up removals of those with no right to remain and fix the processing gaps identified by the Chief Inspector of Borders; negotiate more returns agreements, allowing the UK to return people back to their safe country of origin; and work to identify, shut down and penalise workplaces that are illegally employing and exploiting asylum seekers.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
MPs are due to vote early this evening to reverse 10 changes to the Rwanda Bill by peers in the House of Lords. Number 10 said it wants flights to take off "by the Spring".
The Government has started to identify illegally arrived migrants who will be on the first flights to Rwanda, Downing Street said today.
The PM's official spokesman said that an "initial cohort" of migrants who have arrived in the UK illegally were now being contacted.
The spokesman said: "We are identifying, have identified a cohort of people who will be the first to go on the flights."This was so that ministers were "ready for the flights later this spring."
