Rwanda Bill: SNP brand asylum seeker plans 'tantamount to state-sponsored people trafficking' as Rishi Sunak finally gets Bill passed

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was able to get his bill passed after a late night showdown in Westminster

The deaths of five people, including a child, while attempting to cross the English Channel underlines the need for the deterrent of the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak has said.

The tragedy off the coast of northern France on Tuesday morning came just hours after Parliament passed legislation aimed at putting the Rwanda asylum scheme into effect. The Prime Minister said criminal gangs were exploiting the vulnerable and “packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies”.

Around 6am on Tuesday a dinghy carrying more than 100 people set off from Wimereux and got into difficulties. Three men, a woman and a girl were killed, according to the French coastguard. Some 49 people were rescued, but 58 others refused to leave the boat and continued their journey towards the UK, the coastguard said in a statement, adding several other boats later embarked on the crossing.

Rishi Sunak is celebrating a political win after his controversial Rwanda policy passed through the House of Lords and is set to become a law. (Picture: Adrian Dennis/WPA pool/Getty Images)

The National Crime Agency said it would be supporting the French investigation into the deaths with UK police and Border Force.

During a flight to Poland, Mr Sunak told reporters the incident “underscores why you need a deterrent”. He said: “We want to prevent people making these very dangerous crossings. If you look at what’s happening, criminal gangs are exploiting vulnerable people. They are packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies.

“We’ve seen an enormous increase in the numbers per boat over the past few years. This is what tragically happens when they push people out to sea and that’s why, for matters of compassion more than anything else, we must actually break this business model and end this unfairness of people coming to our country illegally.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was an “absolute tragedy” and “a reminder that this vile trade run by criminal gangs costs lives”. But “this Rwanda gimmick is not the way to stop it”, he said.

Alison Thewliss MP, the SNP's home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster. Image: House of Commons.

First Minister Humza Yousaf described the newly-passed Rwanda Bill as “unworkable and morally repugnant”. He said he would “hope to resist” attempts for planes to take off from Scottish airfields, though it is not clear if this is likely.

“It’s unworkable and it’s morally repugnant,” Mr Yousaf said of the Bill. “It’s a further demonstration of how the values of Westminster are not Scotland’s values.”

The First Minister added: “What you need to do is to create safe, legal routes for migration and that hopefully deters the illegal migration that none of us, of any political party, want to see.”

Asked how he would react to the use of airstrips north of the border to take asylum seekers to Rwanda, the First Minister said: “I would hope to resist that, if it was possible to do so. We should be a country, as we have been for not just years, but for decades, that ensures that we give sanctuary to those that are fleeing persecution, war, extreme poverty.”

The SNP had earlier branded the Rwanda Bill as “tantamount to state-sponsored people trafficking”, after the legislation was officially passed after a late-night showdown at Westminster.

The House of Lords had dropped their opposition to the Bill, with Mr Sunak now saying “nothing stands in our way” to getting flights off the ground.

Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster, told the BBC: “The SNP on principle opposes this Bill – it’s tantamount to state-sponsored people trafficking. Moving people across the world against their will is appalling, and no government should be doing this.”

The SNP MP said the party did not support putting a cap on refugee numbers.

Scottish MP and Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Following their contortions over the Rwanda scheme feels like going through the looking glass. All the key players in government are known to think the proposals are ridiculous, and yet they continue to back them in public. They know that this mad Bill will harm our international reputation, waste millions and do nothing to help people or stop channel crossings – but they are stuck in a trap of their own making.”

The first flights to Rwanda are due to take off in ten to 12 weeks, but it is still possible the departures could be held up by the courts.

Mr Sunak said flights would be ready to take off as soon as the legislation was passed, and 500 staff were ready to escort migrants “all the way to Rwanda”.

The Prime Minister said: “Our focus is now to get flights off the ground and I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives.”

Home secretary James Cleverly described the passing of the legislation as a “landmark moment in our plan to stop the boats”. But senior faith figures, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressed “deep misgivings” about the Rwanda plan.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, and senior voices from the Catholic Church and other denominations also defended against a portrayal of the clergy as “deliberately facilitating false asylum claims”. Senior figures from the United Nations and the Council of Europe similarly condemned Mr Sunak’s plan. Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, called on the Prime Minister to reconsider the plan, which he said set a “worrying global precedent”.

It had been far from plain sailing for the Conservatives on the Bill. The legislation was sent between the House of Commons and the House of Lords five times before it was finally agreed.

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Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded the plans an “extortionately expensive gimmick”, charities have hit out at the scheme, and human rights groups have described it as a “breach of international law”.

Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson told Times Radio the government was prepared for “inevitable” legal challenges.