The government’s Rwanda migrant plan appeals to the lowest common denominator

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I am totally ashamed to say I am a UK citizen, for how we are treating the desperate, destitute and vulnerable who are forced to journey across The Channel (AFP via Getty Images)

With the deplorable plot to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, the government has demonstrated that its gameplan for winning elections is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, sacrificing any morality and subtlety from their arguments. They did this with Brexit, and it worked. Many voters still seem to like Boris Johnson and forgive his multiple offences, so I fear it will work.

Forget the poorer members of society who are mortified to need food banks, some of whom are the very nurses who slaved away to keep Covid patients alive; forget the fact that some ministers are drowning in money and avoiding paying taxes as only the super-rich can do; forget the fact that the whole world is overheating. Let Boris plonk a hardhat on his blond mop, give a thumbs up, and say “job’s done”.

My particular efforts in life have been to protect animals from cruelty. I have campaigned against hunting for decades; I see privilege in action as the ban on this dreadful practice is wholly ignored with impunity; I know completely that there is one law for the wealthy because I have seen it in action for years as those with many acres allow and take part in hunting on their land. Without them, there’s nowhere to hunt.

Add to this the willingness of the police, who seem to be lackeys of the hunts, to turn a blind eye to this form of criminality and you see nothing much has changed since the days of Regency toffs and their disdain of the peasants. My optimism has nearly expired.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire

The inhumane plan to send refugees to Rwanda

Am I the only person who’s noticed the similarities between the inhumane plan to send refugees to Rwanda and the Nazis’s plan to send Jews to Madagascar? It makes me ashamed to be British.

John Broughton

Derbyshire

The lack of compassion is embarrassing

As a British-born Indian, I am totally ashamed to say I am a UK citizen because of how we are treating the desperate and vulnerable people forced to journey across the Channel. Race is a notable factor, of course, but the lack of compassion is embarrassing.

I hope the Rwanda proposal is fake. The sheer cost to the taxpayer makes a mockery of the government’s “value for money” claims, too. I hope other politicians, along with international organisations such as the UN, put a stop to this plan. As the daughter of migrants, Priti Patel should know better and remember that her life would be very different if her family had been treated the same way she treats others. To use this proposal under the guise of stopping human trafficking is not plausible. She should be ashamed of herself.

Sullander Singh

United Kingdom

There will have no long-lasting repercussions

It would appear that some Conservative cabinet ministers may have something to hide over their tax affairs, with some being accused of a lack of transparency over their tax statuses. This is yet another issue in a long line of them. Sadly, we can be pretty sure that there will be no long-lasting repercussions for the Conservative Party.

PPE contracts, Test and Trace outsourcing, “cash for access” and “cash for honours” scandals, Partygate and, most recently, the non-dom status of Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, are the sort of matters that would have once led to resignations and had serious political consequences. That is no longer the case today.

The Tory response to questions about any of these points is to mention the spectacularly successful Brexit protocol: deny, lie, obfuscate and distract, confident their friends in the media will come to their assistance. It works every time.

It would seem the old adage about being able to fool some of the people all the time, needs a new strand. In the 21st century, you can stay in power indefinitely, so long as you can fool enough of the people all the time. Brexit has provided just the blueprint to do that.

M T Harris

Grimsby