UK's new PM confirms end of Rwanda deportation plan
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Starmer says he was not planning to "continue with gimmicks that don't act as a deterrent."
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Britain's Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer on July 5, 2024, during an address outside Downing Street (AP)
​​​British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that his newly formed administration will not continue his predecessor's strategy of deporting asylum seekers arriving in boats to Rwanda, thus halting the project before any aircraft sets off.
Starmer explained during a press conference that "the Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It's never been a deterrent (to small boat crossings)," adding that he was "not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don't act as a deterrent."
Hours after securing a resounding win, Prime Minister Keir Starmer began introducing his new cabinet. On Friday, Britain's head of state, King Charles III, officially appointed Labour leader Keir Starmer as prime minister at Buckingham Palace.
A photograph released by the palace showed the monarch shaking hands with Starmer, whose party achieved a landslide victory in the general election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.
Starmer pledged to "rebuild Britain" as he assumed office on Friday following Labour's massive general election victory. "Now, our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal, and the return of politics to public service," he stated in his inaugural speech.
Starmer detailed that "the work of change begins immediately, but have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain."
In May, The Guardian reported that the Home Office was grappling with the escalating aftermath of its widely publicized crackdown on asylum seekers earmarked for deportation to Rwanda.
Some individuals have gone underground, while others have fled across the border to Ireland. As per the report, when the roundup of asylum seekers began, one person contemplated suicide while another went on a hunger strike.
A Kurdish man from Iran, who arrived in the UK 14 years ago, expressed confusion over the concept of sending refugees to a country they have no connection to.
“Originally I’m not coming from Rwanda. How can you send me to Rwanda? I don’t want to go to Rwanda,” he said as quoted by The Guardian. “Tell me how, what’s the reason?”
Lammy aims for UK foreign policy reset
Britain's new Foreign Secretary David Lammy is promising to reset relations with the European Union and work for a ceasefire in Gaza while also aiming to strengthen ties with Donald Trump's Republican Party, despite calling him a "woman-hating neo-Nazi sociopath."
While his goals originally in the election campaign were domestic, Lammy has a list of foreign challenges.
Labour has stated that long-term peace and stability in the Middle East will be an immediate priority. It has agreed to recognize a Palestinian state as part of a revitalized peace process aimed at achieving a two-state solution.
In a US visit in May, Lammy expressed Labour would cooperate with the US and find "common cause" with Trump, citing that "I do not believe that he is arguing that the U.S. should abandon Europe. He wants Europeans to do more to ensure a better defended Europe."
Lammy repeated his support for international efforts to establish an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as well as the release of all Israeli captives. He vowed that he would "get to work with tireless diplomacy" to achieve those two goals.
"All of us recognize the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza," Lammy remarked. He also vowed he would do everything he could to support US President Joe Biden's efforts for a ceasefire.
