THE SNP have condemned the Tory government for ignoring warnings from experts and ploughing ahead with a plan to send asylum seekers to processing centres abroad.

They have described the policy as “inhumane” and warned the only way for Scotland to detach itself from the policy is to build a fair migration system with independence.

Reports today suggest asylum seekers coming to the UK could be sent to Rwanda for processing as Priti Patel starts talks with officials in Denmark over sharing their centre in the African country.

READ MORE: FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon clashes with Paul Sweeney over Glasgow asylum ban

The Home Secretary will introduce the Nationality and Borders Bill next week to enable the UK Government to send the asylum seekers abroad.

Home Office ministers and officials are said to have discussed their proposals with their counterparts in Denmark, which passed its own laws earlier this month to enable the processing of asylum seekers outside Europe.

The SNP’s Shadow Home Affairs Secretary has urged Priti Patel several times to rule out plans for offshore detention centres, highlighting that the proposal to follow the Australian system, which uses Papua New Guinea, has been widely condemned – including by Refugee Action, the Refugee Council and Scottish Refugee Council, and the UN representative to the UK, Rosella Pagliuchi-Lor.

Today’s reports follow hard-hitting evidence to the Home Affairs Committee from Madeline Gleeson, an expert of the Australian Government’s asylum policy, warning that “any state which is a signatory to international conventions” or “any state which considers itself to be a democratic society based on respect for common decency” should not be considering that offshore processing model.

The lawyer, who specialises in human rights and refugee law, also pointed out the sky-high cost of such a system after Australia spent $7.6 billion (£4.1bn) housing an estimated 3000 people in such centres.

MP Stuart McDonald said: “It is horrifying that the Home Secretary is ploughing ahead with these plans, which have been widely condemned – including by the UN – and would breach the UK’s obligations under Human Rights laws and the 1951 Refugee Convention.

“Scotland wants no part in these inhumane policies. As Scotland has shown by standing up for those who are at risk of being deported, we want a fair and humane migration system, which is based on compassion, dignity and respect. The only way we will get that is with independence.

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“The Home Office already has an abysmal track record – from depriving asylum seekers of the right to work and pitiful levels of asylum support to the disgraceful treatment of those in detention. But plans to ship some of the most vulnerable people in the world miles away to remote island detention centres is beyond reprehensible and doesn’t make sense.

“The plans will cost extraordinary sums as Australia has demonstrated. This is a gross misuse of public money as we continue to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, as well as deal with a damaging and costly Brexit – especially when we know of the trauma it causes and the fact that it breaks international law.

“The UK Government is committed under international law to provide a safe haven for those fleeing persecution – these plans must be axed immediately.”

Gary Christie, head of policy, communications and communities at the Scottish Refugee Council, said: “These nonsensical proposals are a shockingly cruel and brutal tactic of the UK Government’s hostile environment.

“People seeking protection in the UK after fleeing war, terror and oppression deserve to have their cases heard within the UK, and should be entitled to a safe and secure place to stay while awaiting a decision.

“Outsourcing our country’s responsibilities through offshore processing centres cannot fulfil these basic rights.

“This disgraceful announcement has also been made without consultation. The consultation that did take place on the UK Government’s New Plan for Immigration was inappropriately outsourced, very short and exclusionary to many with experience of the asylum system, as well as Scottish stakeholders. The UK can, and must, do better than this.”

Robina Qureshi, from Positive Action in Housing, added: “Priti Patel’s motives for spending hundreds of millions more of taxpayers money on processing asylum seekers offshore needs to be questioned.  The UK doesn’t actually have a refugee 'problem' and Scotland certainly does not. And it certainly is less of a 'problem' than it was in 2002, a year after the bombing of Afghanistan and Iraq created hundreds of thousands of refugees.

“Asylum numbers are historically low and falling, not rising’. (36,000 as opposed to over 100K in 2002); waiting times for Home Office decisions have soared because the Home Office is slow to make decisions, and even slower since the pandemic.

“More people are waiting longer than six months for a decision. More asylum seekers are genuine refugees than ever before. The proportion of asylum seekers granted refugee status, or a related form of international protection, at the 'initial decision' stage has been around 50% over the past couple of years. That figure is pushed up to 56-66% when you take appeals into account. So most asylum seekers are actually refugees.

“When even refugees from Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran are referred to as migrants or asylum seekers in then you know we have a serious problem with the ability of the Home Office to recognise genuine refugees.  

“This looks more like a case of dog whistle politics.”