8 Tuesday May 17 2022 | the times
News
The minister for refugees has refused to
endorse his own government’s policy to
send illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Lord Harrington of Watford, who
was appointed by Boris Johnson to take
charge of Britain’s response to the
Ukrainian refugee crisis, dodged re-
peated questions over whether he was
comfortable with the policy.
The prime minister announced the
plans last month to combat record
Refugees minister refuses to endorse Rwanda policy
numbers of people crossing the Chan-
nel in small boats. More than 600
people arrived at the weekend, taking
this year’s total to more than 8,000.
In an interview with Matt Chorley to
be broadcast on Times Radio today,
Harrington claimed that he was only
the minister for Ukrainian refugees,
despite his job title on the government
website as minister for refugees.
He refused three times to say
whether he was comfortable with the
policy to detain and put some of those
who enter the UK illegally on a
one-way flight to Rwanda, where theywill be offered the opportunity to claim
asylum.
Harrington said: “Well, I’m the
minister for Ukrainian refugees and it’s
my job to resettle them. They come in
on legal routes and it’s a legal route to
come in as refugees from Ukraine and
this country has always been very good
at legal routes, illegal routes in are
different and the government has to do
what it takes to try and stop these
people smugglers.”
Asked again he said: “You know, my
family came here three generations ago
on a legal route, they weren’t illegalimmigrants, and this country gave
them the kind of hospitality and rights
and benefits that we’re giving the
Ukrainian refugees.” On the third time,
he replied that he was doing his job.
Meanwhile, Sir John Major became
the latest senior Tory figure to de-
nounce the Rwanda policy. He said that
the cabinet must reject it because it
would be “a stain” on the reputations of
ministers, on the “entire government”
and on Britain. The former prime min-
ister said it was “wrong to forcibly trans-
port people to a faraway land, when all
that most are seeking is a better life”.Matt Dathan
Kaya Burgess
Religious Affairs Correspondent
centre, including interviews with visit-
ing Home Office officials and legal
advisers. Video conferencing techno-
logy, computers and internet access,
healthcare, faith and other services will
be available at the site.Those housed at
Linton will be bussed to York for recrea-
tional activities.
Nobody will be detained on the Lin-
ton site but it is understood there will be
a 10pm curfew. Those who fail to com-
ply or abscond would face losing their
asylum claim.
The Home Office will set an unoffi-cial target of completing each asylum
claim within six months, meaning no-
body would remain at Linton for longer
than half a year. However, to avoid plac-
ing a burden on the area’s public ser-
vices and housing stock, individuals
will be moved out about a fortnight
before a decision on their asylum claim
is made. Once a decision is made, the
burden falls on the local authority in
which they are living to provide hous-
ing.
At present councils can veto the
Home Office or private contractorsWilliam
offers royal
condolences
for first time
Valentine LowThe Duke of Cambridge has travelled
to the United Arab Emirates to deliver
condolences on behalf of the Queen
and the royal family after the death of
the country’s ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin
Zayed al-Nahyan.
The duke paid his respects during a
meeting with the federation’s new pres-
ident and ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin
Zayed al-Nahyan.
The duke flew in overnight and was
pictured wearing a dark suit, black tie
and in a mask, sitting next to Sheikh
Mohammed in an image released on
the Twitter account of the British Em-
bassy in the UAE.
“The Duke of Cambridge met with
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-
Nahyan today to pay his sincere condo-
lences following the death of HH
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan,”
the embassy tweeted.
It was the first time that the duke has
been asked to pass on condolences on
behalf of the Queen after the death of a
foreign head of state. That responsib-
ility often falls to his father, the Prince
of Wales, who is about to embark on a
tour of Canada with the Duchess of
Cornwall.
William travelled to New Zealand
after the Christchurch mosque attack
in 2019 to pay the royal family’s re-
spects.
The duke’s visit to the oil-rich emir-
ate, a sign of his increasing responsibili-
ties, comes as presidents and prime
ministers descend on the UAE from
around the world.
Sheikh Khalifa, who was one of the
world’s richest heads of state with a per-
sonal fortune of more than $20 billion,
died on Friday at the age of 73 after
years presiding over the country’s rapid
transformation into a global business
hub and regional power centre. Al-
though he introduced a measure of
social liberalisation to the UAE, he was
accused by critics of human rights
abuses against opposition activists and
migrant workers.
Boris Johnson also travelled to the
UAE on Sunday to offer condolences,
along with other leaders including
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, after
the two countries opened formal rela-
tions in 2020.
In a statement issued on Saturday,
the prime minister paid tribute to the
late sheikh as “a wise and respected
leader who will be missed enormously”.
As crown prince of Abu Dhabi,
Sheikh Mohammed has served as the
nation’s de facto leader since Sheikh
Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014. He has
helped turn the UAE into a highly in-
fluential state.The Duke of Cambridge with Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyansuch as Serco acting on its behalf
from buying property in their
area to house asylum seekers.
But a consultation paper has
set out plans to abolish the
veto so local authorities will
no longer be able to block
asylum seekers.
The plans were delayed
until after this month’s local
elections because of fears
they would damage the Con-
servative Party at the polls.
More than 25,000 asylum seek-
ers, as well as 12,000 Afghan ref-
ugees, are accommodated in hotels. In
total the asylum system in the UK is
costing more than £1.5 billion per year.
The Home Office said: “The asylum
reception centre at Linton-on-Ouse
will help end our reliance on expensive
hotels which are costing the taxpayer
almost £5 million a day. We are engag-
ing with local stakeholders about the
use of the site. The New Plan for Immi-
gration will fix this broken asylum
system, allowing us to support those in
genuine need while preventing abuse
of the system and deterring illegal entry
to the UK.”
More than 600 migrants crossed the
Channel last weekend, taking the total
who have arrived this year to 8,325.The Home Office is aiming to move at
least 50 migrants into a reception
centre in a North Yorkshire village by
the end of the month despite huge local
opposition.
The disused RAF base in Linton-on-
Ouse will accommodate a maximum of
500 migrants in its first year, a third of
its capacity. The venue’s total capacity
of 1,500 outnumbers the population of
the village by two to one.
Plans to open a network of purpose-
built reception centres across the UK to
house asylum seekers have been put on
hold while ministers assess the success
of the base in North Yorkshire.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, had
announced plans to open enough cen-
tres to house 8,000 migrants as part of
efforts to slash the £5 million per day
cost of accommodating them in hotels.
Fierce local opposition had threaten-
ed to delay the opening of the reception
centre in Linton but The Times has been
told that the Home Office intends to
press on with the plans, with officials
hoping that more than 50 migrants
who have crossed the Channel in small
boats will be transferred there within a
fortnight.
A 150-strong campaign group of vil-
lagers, set up in an attempt to block the
plans, says the centre will affect house
prices and could put child-
ren’s safety at risk because all
its occupants will be single
males.
Mya Aston, 19, told Mail-
Online the prospect of 1,
more men walking the streets
was daunting. A local resi-
dent told ITV News she was
not sleeping because she was
anxious about women’s safety.
Hambleton district council
has begun a judicial review of
the decision, arguing that the
Home Office acted unlawfully
by making the announcement
without consulting residents.
It is understood that the
Home Office has decided to
limit the number of migrants
housed at the base, which crit-
ics call Guantanamo-on-Ouse, over
fears that Patel’s new model of asylum
reception centres could fail if the first is
deemed a disaster.
A source said: “We’re planning to
open only Linton-on-Ouse at the mo-
ment because we want to make sure we
get it right before we launch any other
centres. So there won’t be another
reception centre for at least the first
year.”
The Home Office is aiming to offer as
many services on-site as possible as
part of efforts to minimise the impact
on the community. Migrants will have
their asylum claim assessed at the
News Politics
Migrants sent to Yorkshire in
weeks despite residents’ anger
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
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Many villagers oppose the plan to open a centre housing asylum seekersOLI SCARFF/AFP; MARTIN POPE/GETTY IMAGES