While the Labour Party has been terrible in office, it did at least drop the Tories ‘Rwanda plan’. Said plan would have seen us deporting refugees to Rwanda regardless of their country of origin. Now, it turns out Labour is considering a Rwanda-style plan which would potentially see us deporting people to Albania.
Yvette Cooper admits the Labour govt will consider doing something similar to the Tories Rwanda plan if it works (The Tories plan involved transporting people fleeing war or persecution to a third country with no right to come back even if their asylum application was successful) pic.twitter.com/XecUeO8vfo
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 30, 2025
And to think people used to argue when we said Starmer’s Labour were just red Tories!
Labour: Rwanda revisited
Sky News host Trevor Phillips asked home secretary Yvette Cooper:
How close are you to a third country deal with Albania
Cooper responded:
Well, we already have return agreements with Albania, and that’s been an important part of the system. We’re also working across the board to increase our returns everywhere. That’s why we’ve got the 20% increase in returns already as a result of what we’re doing.
Phillips interjected to note:
But this is a slightly different kind of deal. It’s not just about returns . It’s about processing; it’s about, basically, telling people who… think they’re gonna get here and stay here illegally – ‘no, you’re not. You’re gonna go to Albania’… Let’s forget Rwanda, but somewhere else.
Phillips was pointing out that this Albania deal seems to be an alternative version of the hated Rwanda plan. Cooper responded:
So I think you’re what you’re talking about is the the arrangement, obviously, that Italy and Albania have set up, which we’ve always said we will look at. We have talked – I’ve talked to the Italian interior minister about their arrangements.
For those who don’t know, Italy’s current government has been described as the country’s “most right-wing and Eurosceptic government since 1946”. Famously, the government before then was Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party, which allied with the Nazis in World War II to wage war against an island nation you may have heard of called Great Britain.
Yvette Cooper is having talks with their interior minister.
Regarding their “arrangements”.
Phillips asked Cooper if Labour want the same deal, to which Cooper responded:
We will always look at what works.
What does ‘works’ mean in this context?
Because a hammer ‘works’ whether you use it to strike a nail or a finger.
What she said next was mostly vague, but it did betray what Labour’s actual problem was with the Tories’ Rwanda plan:
So we’ve been very clear about that. We will always look at what works. But it has to be practical things that will work, not the the gimmicks. What we saw with Rwanda was £700m be spent on sending four volunteers to Rwanda. We’ll always make sure that our approach is about what works
Understand now?
The Rwanda plan was an expensive gimmick that failed to deport lots of people to a foreign country they couldn’t point to on a map; the Albania plan will be a reasonably-priced non-gimmick that will successfully deport many people to a different foreign nation they once again couldn’t point to on a map.
Jesus Christ.
How we got here
This isn’t the first time that Labour has said it may be open to a deal with Albania, with the Telegraph reporting in September 2024:
Yvette Cooper has said the Government would ‘look at anything that works’ with regard to offshore schemes
Earlier that year after Labour won the general election, the Canary’s Steve Topple noted that Labour’s objections to the Rwanda plan were far from humane:
Labour has scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda plan. The UK Supreme Court had deemed it illegal under international law. Not that this stopped the Tories – who just changed the law. Nor was it the reason Labour has stopped it.
Cooper this week called the Rwanda scheme, intended to deter migrants making the Channel crossing in small boats from northern France, “the most shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” she had seen. Of course, she failed to mention its illegality and inhumanity.
On March 25, SNP MP Pete Wishart questioned whether Labour was planning its own Rwanda plan. Labour was even vaguer then than today:
After everything they've said about the Tories bizarre and callous Bill it was reported that this Labour Government are considering their own Rwanda style deportation scheme. I gave the Minister a chance to deny it. The fact she didn't tells you everything about their intentions. pic.twitter.com/aa3dpI3syX
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) March 25, 2025
Reporting on the Cooper’s latest interview, Sky News added:
Former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett has suggested the government should create bespoke agreements with designated “safe” countries to deport foreign criminals and illegal immigrants, as this would override any claims through the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
It’s always a good sign when your government is looking for loopholes to escape our commitment to the Convention on Human Rights (especially when they’re working hand in hand with an Italian Fascist tribute act).
Labour: proving the right is right
When Labour copies the policies to the Tories and Reform, they tell voters that those parties have got the right idea. And if the Tories and Reform are the ones with the right ideas, why vote for the copycats?
This is why Reform have unfortunately gone from strength to strength under Keir Starmer:
‼️ POLL | Labour TIED with Reform
🔴 LAB 26% (-)
🟣 REF 26% (-)
🔵 CON 22% (+1)
🟠 LD 12% (-1)
🟢 GRN 8% (-)Via @OpiniumResearch, 26-28 Mar (+/- vs 21 Mar) pic.twitter.com/vUzU0hQpLM
— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) March 29, 2025
The way things are going, if Labour doesn’t throw their leader out before the next election, it’s almost certain that Nigel Farage will.
Featured image via Sky News
