PM to offer Ireland Rwanda deal

Downing Street has offered Ireland the opportunity to join the Rwanda scheme, amid a row over asylum seekers fleeing the UK to the Republic.

No 10 said it was open to exploring Ireland’s participation in the scheme after Irish ministers blamed the deterrent effect of deportation to Rwanda for the surge in asylum seekers arriving in Dublin from Britain.

Rishi Sunak has rejected demands by Simon Harris, the Irish prime minister, to take back the asylum seekers, unless the EU agrees to receive migrants who have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.

However, a Downing Street source said: “If the Irish government believes the Rwanda plan is already having an effect, we can explore Ireland joining the Rwanda scheme. Many countries are looking at a third country now, which is why Sir Keir Starmer’s amnesty for 115,000 illegal immigrants a year is so shortsighted.”

Mr Sunak is relying on the Rwanda scheme to stop the flow of migrants across the Channel, and has made the policy a key dividing line with Labour, which says it would axe the scheme. At least 100 migrants earmarked to be sent to Rwanda have already been detained.

However, new figures revealed a record 711 migrants crossed the Channel on Wednesday, the highest number on a single day this year. It takes this year’s total to 8,278, up 34 per cent on the same point last year.

It comes as there were protests in London over the treatment of asylum seekers, with the Home Office forced to postpone the transfer of migrants from a hotel to the Bibby Stockholm barge after protesters disrupted their removal and slashed a coach’s wheels.

Downing Street is braced for criticism of Mr Sunak’s leadership following the results of Thursday’s local elections, which are expected to show heavy Tory party losses.

The Anglo-Irish row intensified on Wednesday after the Irish proposed redeploying 100 officers to the border area to stop asylum seekers entering from the UK. Irish ministers have said that up to 90 per cent of asylum seekers who have entered the Republic this year came across the northern border.

Tensions over immigration are high in Ireland, a country of about 5.1 million people, which is struggling with a housing crisis and has welcomed more than 104,000 Ukrainian refugees since Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.

More than 6,000 people had applied for asylum in Ireland by April 12 this year alone. If that rate continues, Ireland would have a record number of more than 20,000 asylum claims by the end of 2024. The previous record was 13,000 in 2004.

On Thursday, it emerged that, amid the crisis, Irish ministers are considering making further cuts to support and benefits for Ukrainian refugees.

Ireland has a special legal right to opt out of EU migration and immigration rules, like Denmark, which has held talks with Rwanda about sending migrants to the east African state to have their asylum claims processed there.

No 10 sources confirmed Mr Sunak was working on a “statement of intent” with like-minded countries such as Italy and Denmark to explore “alternative and untested” schemes that would act as a deterrent to migrants. This includes deals where migrants’ claims are processed in third countries.

Both Mr Sunak and Mr Harris have claimed the apparent increase in migrants crossing to Ireland from the UK is evidence that even the threat of deportation to Rwanda is acting as a deterrent. Asylum seekers interviewed in Dublin by The Telegraph this week cited the prospect of removal to Rwanda as their reason for fleeing the UK.

Mr Harris has ordered his justice ministry to bring forward new legislation to declare the UK a “safe” third country for asylum seekers, overturning an Irish high court judgment that ruled the UK was “unsafe” because of the risk of migrants being sent to Rwanda.

The new law – which mirrors Mr Sunak’s own Safety of Rwanda Act – is designed to remove the legal block that would prevent asylum seekers being sent back to the UK, despite Mr Sunak’s refusal to accept them.

Despite acknowledging the deterrent effect of Rwanda, Irish ministers have, however, been dismissive of the scheme. “I’ve been listening to Rwanda now for three years. We’re now talking about one person going there,” said Micheál Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, referring to the voluntary removal of a migrant to Rwanda on Tuesday.

The Irish government has been contacted for comment but Hermann Kelly, president of the Irish Freedom Party, said: “If a flight to Rwanda, or even a boat trip to Iceland acts as a deterrent, those proposals should certainly be examined and quickly.”

The UK Government is gearing up for multiple legal challenges to its Rwanda legislation from detained migrants as well as civil service unions.

The Telegraph can reveal that at least 100 migrants earmarked for deportation to Rwanda have been detained since Monday. They are being put in contact with lawyers to seek bail and challenge their removal, according to charities specialising in immigration detention.

The charity Care4Calais said it had been contacted by 90 asylum seekers earmarked for deportation to Rwanda who have been detained this week in nationwide raids and operations by immigration enforcement officers. Another charity, BID, said it had been contacted by eight prospective deportees.

They will be put in contact with lawyers who will seek bail from immigration detention ahead of the flights in nine to 11 weeks and prepare legal challenges on the basis that they could be at risk of “serious and irreversible harm” if removed to Rwanda.

The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents Border Force and immigration officers, is considering following the First Division Association in taking legal action over the Rwanda plan.