The government are looking at plans to send asylum seekers to the Ascension Island’s which is some 4,000 miles away.
The Home Office Minister said that the government are looking into “additional measures” and Sarah Dines said that “times change.”
She was asked why the Ascension Island plans is being reconsidered, Dines said that the small boat crisis coming over the English Channel has now become “urgent.”
Boris Johnson’s government had rejected the idea and it is being proposed that it can be used as a “plan B” if the Rwanda scheme fails then asylum seekers could be sent to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic for processing those who arrive in the UK.
Dines said the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary are “committed” to sending asylum seekers to Kigali following the Rwanda agreement.
The Safeguarding Minister Dines was asked on Sky News if it is true the Ascension Island plan is being reconsidered.
She said, “We are pretty confident that Rwanda is a legal policy.
“The High Court and the Lord Chief Justice found that it was, so that is what we are focusing on.
“But like any responsible government, we look at additional measures, so we are looking at everything to make sure our policy works.
“We need to reduce the pull factor of illegal criminal gangs getting people to this country, basically abusing the system.”
She was then asked why Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration are revisiting the possibility of using the island, Dines told Sky News, “Well, times change.
“We look at all possibilities. This crisis in the Channel is urgent, we need to look at all possibilities and that is what we are doing.
“We are determined to make sure there isn’t the pull factor for illegal migrants to come to this country, basically to be abused by criminal organised gangs.
“These are international operations and they have got to stop.”
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