An SNP member of parliament has declared that an independent Scotland would have “limitless immigration”. Kirsty Blackman was on BBC Radio 5 Live, reacting to the Government’s Rwanda bill which was voted through the House of Commons on Tuesday.
The Safety of Rwanda won 313 votes to 269, with 63 MPs abstaining including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick. The emergency law was created to go around the Supreme Court, which ruled that sending migrants to Rwanda is unlawful as it is not safe and migrants would be at risk of being sent back to their home countries, where they could face mistreatment.
On BBC Radio 5 Live, the MP for Aberdeen North said: “The whole Rwanda scheme is built on a premise that immigration is bad, right? The whole idea.”
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She added: “It only works if you start from the premise that immigration is a bad thing, that we shouldn’t have it, that we need to reduce it and that we need to stop people coming here.”
Host Nicky Campbell interrupted her, stating: “1.2 million I think it was, net immigration over the last couple of years?”
Ms Blackman replied: “Which includes students by the way.”
Mr Campbell argued: “Many of whom don’t go back and bring their families.”
Ms Blackman responded: “Many do go back. And when they do, when they become successful and get jobs in other countries, they’re much more likely to do things like invest in the UK.
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“The proof is there that if you spend some time in your formative years in a country, you’re more likely to keep up links with that country and invest in that country and use companies and that.”
A shocked Mr Campbell asked: “Would an independent Scotland have a cap on immigration?” Ms Blackman simply said: “No.”
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter): “The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts.
“That’s what this Bill delivers. We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.”
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