Template Letter Against the Rwanda Plan

Dear [Insert the name of your MP here. You can find your MPs details here],  

I am writing to you as one of your constituents to request that you stand against the Rwanda Bill in the Third Reading this evening. I am deeply concerned about these continued attempts to see those seeking asylum removed to Rwanda. This policy is being pursued in direct defiance of the Supreme Court, which ruled it unlawful in 2023, and the UNHCR statement finding it incompatible with international human rights law this week.

In Britain, we have signed multiple human rights treaties emphasising the importance of a universal rights system. These treaties are now firmly under threat by this Bill. This legislation pushes Britain towards becoming a pariah state, as it turns its back on the 70-year-old international human rights commitments of 196 states. If the policy is enforced, it will likely lead to the mass demonisation, detention, and deportation of people who are fleeing war, persecution, and torture.  

This attempt to remove people to a so-called ‘third safe country’ 4,000 miles away has so far cost the Government around £240 million, and yet not a single person has been removed. The plan to remove people to Rwanda is set to cost £63,000 more per person than allowing them to stay in the UK. Nonetheless, the Government are continuing to throw money at a policy that is designed to fail people who need sanctuary.  

Last week, the Government also published their report on safe and legal routes. They announced no new safe and legal routes. A few days later, five people died attempting to cross the Channel in a small dinghy in sub-zero temperatures. The failure to provide safe and legal routes and the decision to instead pursue the Rwanda policy is a demonstration of an asylum system designed to fail people who need it most, failing to meet the most basic standards of compassion. This policy denies people their human right to seek safety, pushing those who have fled war, persecution, and torture into further forcible displacement.

As your constituent, I urge you to protect our international human rights commitments and oppose this Bill, which would cause so much harm to so many, and work instead towards a future that prioritises compassion over cruelty. Will you stand in opposition to this attack on the human rights of people seeking safety and the international rights system, and ask instead for the safe and legal routes that are so desperately needed? 

Sincerely,  

[YOUR NAME] 

Iona Taylor (Advocacy and Campaigns Lead)