Labour’s first week: Eight key plans and the challenges ahead

Labour’s manifesto promised to scrap plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and set up a new Border Security Command (BSC) to tackle the people smuggling gangs moving tens of thousands of people across the English Channel in inflatable boats.

After taking up office, the prime minister swiftly confirmed the end of the Rwanda plan, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there would be “rapid recruitment of an exceptional leader” for the BSC.

Labour said the new BSC would be partly funded by diverting £75m from the Rwanda policy, set up by the Conservatives in 2022. By the end of 2023, £240m had been paid to Rwanda. However, Rwanda has said it will not be giving any money back.

The one diplomatic mistake of Labour’s first week was its failure to inform the Rwandan government before announcing the end of the joint migration policy, which angered Kigali.

Labour also promised to end the “perma-backlog” of asylum seekers whose claims are not being processed because of the Illegal Migration Act, which says people who arrive illegally cannot claim asylum. However, the new government has not said how it plans to deal with the estimated 100,000 people caught in this legal limbo.