Time Wasted Whilst International Crisis Continues 

Alyn Smith MP has condemned the UK Prime Minister for disrupting key European cooperation structures, after a scheduled UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in Brussels was cancelled due to votes on continuing anti-refugee legislation in the House of Commons.

The UK Government is currently taking through their ‘Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill’, after the UK Supreme Court ruled plans to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing breached human rights law.

Debates and votes on the Bill took place in the House of Commons on Monday, causing the latest meeting of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in Brussels to be postponed. At a time of heightened security fears in Europe as a consequence of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Mr Smith points to Tory games as undermining European cooperation and unity at a time of deep crisis.

Alyn Smith MP,  SNP Spokesperson for Europe and EU Accession said:

‘The Rwanda gambit is bad law. It is expensive, inhumane and will not achieve the objectives it seeks to. Now the political theatre of the Tories has crashed into cooperation structures with our European allies, designed to foster better coordination and partnership between the UK and the EU. The fact this summit has had to be postponed underlines how everyone else is left paying the price for Tory internal drama, as ever.

‘The UK Government should drop this ridiculous legislative stunt, and actually take concrete steps to work with our EU partners to address the structural issues at play which are leading to so many vulnerable souls taking to the English Channel in the first place. The sooner this Rwanda wheeze is binned, the sooner we can work towards solutions which will withstand contact with reality.’