Rwanda Asylum Partnership

Debate between Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Cunningham of Felling

Wednesday 19th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

As the noble Baroness is aware, the foundation for this is a memorandum of understanding that, it is strongly believed, covers the various points that she made. I cannot answer precisely who is responsible at the Rwandan end, but there are teams of Home Office personnel in place who will also monitor progress.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords, when will—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

The most reverend Primate refers to refugees, so I will too. It is fairly self-evident what we have been doing for refugees, including BNO passport holders from Hong Kong—over 130,000 such visas have now been issued—Ukrainian refugees and Afghan refugees. I remind noble Lords that at the moment the taxpayer is spending about £2 billion a year on this problem. This is about asylum seekers arriving from safe countries, and about trying to put the criminal gangs out of business.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords—