- Cooper audits Rwanda plan funds
- Labour shifts Rwanda funds to BSC
- Focus on criminal organizations, border security
New Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said that she will audit the funds pledged by the Conservative government to the Rwanda plan, aiming to recoup or preserve some of them.
The government proposes to redirect tens of millions of pounds from the Rwanda scheme to establish a new Border Security Command (BSC) to combat unlawful migration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also announced an audit of the funds transferred to Kigali as the Labour administration seeks ways to save or retrieve funds pledged by the Conservatives.
Ms Cooper intends to address the issue of unlawful migration with her European colleagues at the European Political Community Summit on July 18.
Before the general election, Sir Keir Starmer stated that his party intended to redirect approximately £75 million per year from the abandoned Rwanda deportation plan to their new border policy.
Earlier this weekend, the prime minister declared that Conservative-era plans to transfer asylum seekers to Africa were “dead and buried.”
However, it is understood that Labour has not contacted Kigali to discuss further steps, despite the previous UK administration promising hundreds of millions of pounds to send migrants to Rwanda.
One estimate put the entire cost of the Rwanda program at roughly half a billion pounds by April 2027.
The Labour government has also abandoned the Conservative Party’s “stop the boats” policy for dealing with illegal immigration. Instead, they have promised to “smash” the criminal organizations controlling the crossings.
Ms Cooper refused to use the phrase “stop the boats” or make a vow to do so several times during her interview with broadcasters this afternoon.
When asked when the number of crossings would be reduced, the new home secretary stated that the administration “want to make progress as quickly as possible” but that they had inherited a “problem” from the Conservatives, as crossings increased in the first half of 2024.
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According to the government, the BSC will give “strategic direction” by bringing together security services, the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement, and the Border Force.
When Labour outlined these intentions as the opposition, the then-conservative government questioned how the BSC would vary from the current Channel threat commander.
Ms. Cooper said: “The prime minister has certainly stated his stance on the Rwanda project, where, as we all know, the Conservatives managed it for two and a half years and sent only four volunteers, as well as hundreds of millions of pounds.
I will audit the specifics around the money, legislation, and processes and present further information to Parliament.
However, the first step in our approach to these issues is to ensure that the money is spent on improving border security. We are launching the Border Security Command process today to ensure that a new commander and cross-border police are in place to strengthen border security.
My top objective as incoming home secretary will be to tighten Britain’s border security, which has been inadequate for far too long.
