Political commentator Charlie Rowley has slammed the state of Britain’s immigration system, branding it “the hokey cokey of the Home Office” after a deportee sent to France under Labour’s new “one in, one out” scheme reportedly returned to the UK by small boat just a day later.
He said the Rwanda plan “might actually have worked if it had just been given a bit more time,” adding that the latest case shows the new policy is “in tatters”.
The comments come after a man returned to the UK on a small boat after he was returned to France under the “one-in, one-out” pilot scheme.
The man, wanting to claim asylum in the UK, said he believed France was not safe for him and claims to be a victim of modern slavery in northern France.
Charlie Rowley said that the Home Office ‘is not fit for purpose’
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GB NEWS
Mr Rowley told GB News: “It won’t be breaking news to your viewers that the Home Office is not fit for purpose.
“Under the last Government, there were successive Home Secretaries who tried to get a grip on this issue, who tried to deal with officials within the Home Office who should be acting at the behest of ministers and implementing what the Government wanted.
“That included the Rwanda scheme, which, despite the criticism it received from this Government for being too costly and for the fact that no flights had taken off, might actually have worked if it had just been given a bit more time.
“Those flights could have taken off, and we might not now be in the ludicrous situation where a man who was deported under the much-heralded ‘one in, one out’ scheme with France, a scheme we were told would prevent anyone from coming back into the UK, has completely broken the system and returned to Britain in a small dinghy.
GB News host Stephen Dixon pointed out: “What I don’t understand is how, once again, the blame is being placed on human trafficking gangs. These people don’t take anyone across unless they’re paid several thousand pounds to do it.
Mr Rowley explained: “Exactly. And while deporting this particular individual isn’t necessarily a bad thing on the surface, being sent back to France, he was there for less than 24 hours before apparently contacting his associates and managing to return by small boat, claiming he felt unsafe in France.
The man said smugglers had threatened him | GETTY“It’s the hokey cokey of the Home Office in tatters: one in, one out. Who on earth is going to believe the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary now, when they insist that anyone deported to France under this scheme won’t be able to come back?”
The man said he only made the journey back because he felt unsafe in France.
“If I’d believed France was safe for me, I would never have returned to the UK,” he claimed.
He explained that after being sent to France, “we were taken to a shelter in Paris,” but added: “I didn’t dare go outside, I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous.”
The Director of the Centre for Migration Control Research told GB News: “The returns deal with France is in chaos. It has failed to deter anyone, and migrants have now realised they can simply try again and come back across the Channel.
“Far from being a deterrent, this scheme is actually increasing demand. The winners will be the people smugglers.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will not accept any abuse of our borders.”
