‘Appalling’: Prince Charles slams government’s Rwanda deportations
“Appalling”: this is how Prince Charles has described the government’s plan to deport illegal UK migrants to Rwanda.
The Prince of Wales, the Times first reported, lambasted the Home Office’s policy in private and said he feared it would overshadow this month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, which he is to attend.
“He said he was more than disappointed at the policy,” a source told the newspaper last night.
“He said he thinks the government’s whole approach is appalling. It was clear he was not impressed with the government’s direction of travel.”
A spokesperson for the prince did not deny the 73-year-old was against the policy, but reiterated that the heir to the throne would not influence the government in any way.
“We would not comment on supposed anonymous private conversations with the Prince of Wales, except to restate that he remains politically neutral,” the spokesperson said.
“Matters of policy are decisions for government.”
Prince Charles’s comments came as the Home Office scored a massive win after a High Court judge ruled in favour of the first flight departing on Tuesday.
The deal was struck between home secretary Priti Patel and the Rwandan Government in April but attracted widespread criticism.
The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR opposed the plan on the grounds that it would breach the UK’s international legal obligations.
“UNHCR remains firmly opposed to arrangements that seek to transfer refugees and asylum seekers to third countries in the absence of sufficient safeguards and standards. Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs.