Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has described Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's latest plan to remove asylum seekers as "an admission" that they should not have abandoned the Rwanda scheme.
Speaking on his GB News show, the former Cabinet minister criticised the Government's approach to finding alternative arrangements for failed asylum seekers.
In the latest move by the Labour Government, Starmer plans to establish a series of "return hubs" overseas for rejected asylum seekers, with Kosovo among the countries being considered.
Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani has suggested her country would be "open" to discussions about hosting one of Britain's return hubs.
Jacob Rees-Mogg tore into Labour's plan to send asylum seekers to Kosovo
GB News
However, critics across the political spectrum have likened the plans to the failed Conservative Rwanda scheme, which Starmer shut down on his first day in office.
Rees-Mogg argued that the current discussions represent a tacit acknowledgement that scrapping the Rwanda deportation programme was "ill-thought through".
The GB News presenter suggested the administration's current efforts demonstrate the hasty nature of the original decision to cancel the Rwanda scheme upon taking office.
Rees-Mogg highlighted the Prime Minister's unsuccessful diplomatic efforts, referencing Starmer's visit to Albania where he had planned to ask if they would take failed asylum seekers.
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PARees-Mogg jibed: "You may recall Keir Starmer's visit to Albania, where he had planned to ask if they would take failed asylum seekers, only to be given a flat out ‘no’ by the Albanian Prime Minister in front of the world's media.
"Now it's emerged the PM plans to ask Kosovo if it will take failed asylum seekers instead."
Criticising the plans, Rees-Mogg questioned Starmer's approach, asking: "Why doesn't he just ring up the president of Rwanda and say, 'look, you've got a scheme, we've paid for the buildings.' Why is he running around all over the place?"
He described the current situation as "basically an admission that the hurried decision to cancel Rwanda when they got into office was ill-thought through, and now they're scrabbling around trying other places to do the same thing."
Rees-Mogg claimed Labour are 'scrambling to find other countries' which will replicate the Rwanda scheme
GB News
He argued that Rwanda was already available as an "option".
"Rwanda was there. It may not have been perfect, it may have needed some further negotiation, there may have been bits they weren't happy with.
"But now, a year later, with nothing happening, they're scrambling around with every country that they can get an audience with."
The former Cabinet minister concluded: "Surely, this shows it was a mistake to abandon Rwanda hurriedly."
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