MP defends government's Rwanda plan and it immediately backfires

There’s been plenty of debate online surrounding the government’s new multi-million-pound deal with Rwanda, and now one MP who got involved will be wishing she never did.

The new deal will see people seeking sanctuary in the UK flown 4,000 miles away to have their asylum claims processed by the east African country.

Boris Johnson praised Rwanda as “one of the safest countries in the world” during the announcement on Thursday, adding that it is “globally recognised for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants”.

Following criticism of the new scheme, Lucy Allan, who is the MP for Telford, took to Twitter to add her voice into the mix.

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“Rwanda is a wonderful welcoming country – please can the Left stop trashing Rwanda,” she wrote.

Only, people were quick to point out that Allan’s own government were the ones who were ‘trashing’ Rwanda less than a year ago, calling them out for failing to investigate human rights violations.

Just months before the agreement was signed, the UK raised alarm about a failure by authorities in Rwanda to properly investigate alleged human rights abuses and to protect and support victims of trafficking.

As people made clear to Allan, a statement by the UK’s international ambassador for human rights Rita French in July 2021 expressed “regret” that Rwanda was not conducting “transparent, credible and independent investigations into allegations of human rights violations including deaths in custody and torture”.

She added: “We were disappointed that Rwanda did not support the UK recommendation to screen, identify and provide support to trafficking victims, including those held in government transit centres.”

People didn’t waste any time pointing this out to Allan in response to her tweet.

If you recognise Allan’s name, it’s probably because she admitted adding a “death threat” to a Facebook post designed to expose the "unacceptable" abuse she received after voting in favour of airstrikes in Syria back in 2015.

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