Rwanda plan for asylum seekers 'is what local people want', says Dudley MP
Government plans to send illegal migrants to Rwanda will see Britain finally regain control of its borders, a Black Country MP has said.
Under a radical new £120 million scheme, some asylum seekers crossing the Channel into Britain will be dispatched more than 4,000 miles to Africa in a move Boris Johnson says will "save countless lives" from human trafficking.
The plan, which will initially run as a trial, is expected to target single men arriving on small boats or lorries.
It comes after nearly 30,000 illegal migrants arrived from across the Channel in 2021, with many of them ending up housed in hotels in areas including the Black Country and Staffordshire while they await processing.
The scheme has been welcomed by Dudley North MP Marco Longhi, who said it was a key element of a Conservative manifesto pledge to take control of Britain 's borders.
Mr Longhi said: "These measures reflect what local people in the Black Country want.
"They have paid their taxes and want to be able to access schools and hospitals, rather than seeing their hard-earned money spent on young, male, economic migrants who are certainly not fleeing for their lives.
"This is a key part of a manifesto pledge we made. It will bring an end to the situation we have where single men are coming to this country and taking up social housing and causing longer waiting times for local people in services such as GPs.
"Any MP who says this is the wrong thing to do needs to venture out of their mansions and take their £60,000 Teslas for a drive up to the housing estates in Dudley and to see how residents there feel about it."
Announcing the scheme in Kent, Mr Johnson said it would impact those who had arrived illegally since January 1, and could involve tens of thousands of people in the coming years.
It will see Rwanda take responsibility for migrants sent over from the UK and allow them to apply for asylum there.
The PM said: "We cannot sustain a parallel illegal system. Our compassion may be infinite, but our capacity to help people is not."
Amnesty International has criticised the plan, describing it as a "shockingly ill-conceived idea" that would see public funds wasted.
Council leaders in the Black Country including Wolverhampton's Labour leader Ian Brookfield have previously slammed the UK's "broken" asylum system, which has seen the region take in thousands of asylum seekers without adequate financial support.
Last year, hundreds of asylum seekers were temporarily housed in hotels across the region, including the Britannia in Wolverhampton and Cannock's Holiday Inn.
