Starmer Ends Conservative's Controversial Rwanda Deportation Plan

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the termination of the Conservative policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda. The scheme faced numerous challenges and never deported anyone, despite costing millions. The decision comes soon after Starmer's Labour Party won a landslide victory, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Saturday that he is scrapping a contentious Conservative policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” Starmer stated during his first news conference. “It's never acted as a deterrent. Almost the opposite.” The decision was one of Starmer's first acts in office and was widely expected, as he had pledged during his campaign to drop the costly and ineffective plan.

Starmer announced the policy change after holding his first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing St., following his Labour Party's overwhelming victory that ended 14 years of Conservative governance.

The Rwanda plan was one of the key policies of former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak aimed at discouraging migrants from making perilous crossings of the English Channel. However, the plan faced numerous challenges regarding human rights issues and failed to deport a single person despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars.

Suella Braverman, a Conservative immigration hardliner and potential contender to replace Sunak, criticized Starmer's move. “Years of hard work, acts of Parliament, millions of pounds been spent on a scheme which had it been delivered properly would have worked,” she remarked before Starmer's official announcement.