Priti Patel may face a riot at the Interior Ministry over plans to treat 5,000-mile migrants in Rwanda after he canceled officials from pushing through the scheme.
The interior minister has issued a rare ministerial instruction to dispel civil servants’ concerns about whether the scheme will provide value for money.
This is only the second ministerial order – an order imposed by a minister despite the objection of the permanent secretary – received by the interior ministry in 30 years. The first was to speed up the Windrush compensation scheme before the legislation.
Civil servants may organize mass rallies to protest the new plans, unions have warned.
Britain has promised Rwanda an initial £ 120m as part of the ‘Economic Transformation and Integration Fund’, but the UK will also pay for operating costs. Each migrant will be granted a certain amount, which is expected to cost between £ 20,000 and £ 30,000 per person for flights to Rwanda and the first three months of accommodation there.
Immigration Minister Tom Parsglow said on Friday that he believed the move would save Britain money in the long run.
However, civil servants are opposed to the policy on legal and ethical grounds and are expected to express their dislike of the direction.
Dave Penman, secretary general of the FDA, warned that officials could request a transfer from the Department of the Interior or leave the civil service altogether instead of pursuing the policy.
He said: “This is a policy of division, but civil servants know that their job is to serve the government of the day. With regard to the most divisive policies, it is up to civil servants to implement or leave. This could mean somewhere else in the department, another department, or leaving the civil service. ”
The Public Service and Trade Union (PCS) said that “trying to claim that this is something other than completely inhuman is pure hypocrisy.”
Colleagues, human rights lawyers and members of the opposition also condemned the scheme – even arguing that it was unlikely to happen due to judicial inspections and other legal actions aimed at challenging the legality of the measures.
Shadow Prison Minister Eli Reeves told Times Radio: “UNHCR [UN refugee agency] came out really, really strongly condemning the government’s proposals, as well as many organizations, and it seems that government officials have expressed great concerns about the plans, which seem completely wrong. “
She said: “We are in the middle of a crisis with the cost of living, so it does not seem like the right way to spend money on an unethical and unworkable scheme that will not stop people from coming.
On Friday, UNHCR condemned the plan as a “symbolic gesture” that would be unfeasible in practice.
Despite the reaction, Patel believes other countries will follow the UK’s asylum proposals. She said Denmark could be among those who would replicate the UK system.
“Now there is no doubt that the model we have presented, I am convinced, is world-class and the first in the world and will be used as a plan for the future, there is no doubt about that,” Patel said.
“I would not be surprised if other countries start coming to us directly against this background.
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