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Harry Fletcher
Feb 17, 2023
Robert Jenrick says social housing doesn't meet a 'decent standard'
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Tory MP Robert Jenrick faced scrutiny during the most recent episode of Question Time when discussing the government's controversial policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Jenrick was asked by host Fiona Bruce during Thursday’s instalment of the programme, which also featured panellists Ian Hislop and Scottish journalist Ruth Wishart.
Plans to “offshore” the processing of asylum seekers in Rwanda was first announced by the government back in April.
The first scheduled flight in June was cancelled at the eleventh hour following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights – the court which oversees the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that Suella Braverman desperately wants us to leave.
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No flights have yet taken place, but the High Court ruled that the policy was legal in December. Jenrick, who is Minister of State for Immigration, faced criticism from Hislop on Thursday’s episode.
Private Eye editor Hislop slammed the “tin-eared” policy and criticised the asylum system that has “completely failed”.
\u201c\u201cAmazed that you can still say Rwanda with a straight face\u201d\n\nThe panel clash over the government's immigration policy, with Ruth Wishart telling Robert Jenrick, \u201cpeas get processed, people don\u2019t get processed\u201d\n\n@bbcone after the 10 o'clock news\n\n#bbcqt https://t.co/pdu2EiAv2r\u201d— BBC Question Time (@BBC Question Time) 1676581127
Hislop said: “I’m amazed you can still say ‘Rwanda’ with a straight face. I mean that’s an extraordinary achievement… Deporting people to the scene of a former holocaust still strikes me as a bit tin-eared.”
Jenrick replied: “In the high court before Christmas, [it] studied all of our plans, and studied the situation in Rwanda, and concluded, not only was our policy lawful, but Rwanda is a safe country.”
Wishart added: “Peas get processed, people don’t get processed”.
Discussion also turned to the recent violent disorder near a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley, when anti-refugee protesters in Merseyside turned violent - hurling missiles and damaging a police van near the hotel.
\u201c"To blame asylum seekers in hotels for being there, when the system has completely failed, seems to be encouraging people to go round there with hammers, smash up police cars and say it's your fault you're here."\n\nIan Hislop tears into Robert Jenrick #BBCQT\u201d— Farrukh (@Farrukh) 1676581859
Hislop spoke about the incident and criticised immigration policy, claiming that migrants are placed in deprived areas intentionally.
He said: “To blame asylum seekers in hotels for being there, when the system has completely failed, seems to be encouraging people to go round there with hammers, smash up police cars and say it’s your fault you’re here.”
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