The UK Government pumps out such nonsense you have to wonder if they make profits from sewage? Latest to be made public is the idea of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Archbishop of Canterbury has called this idea ‘ungodly’ and the United Nations refugee agency has called it a ‘breach of international law’ but Home Secretary Priti Patel thinks it is an ‘innovative’ solution to the ‘deadly trade’ of people smuggling.

You would have imagined that Patel, whose family history includes both economic migration from India to Uganda and also escape from Uganda to England, would have a more sympathetic approach. But, no, she’s all about the outsourcing. Spend a chunk of money and send the problem a long way off, pretending it has been solved and forgetting the human cost.

Doesn’t that make us another link in the people smuggling chain? Patel claims that opponents of the plan have failed to offer solutions. Frankly, I think there is every evidence that her head and heart, and those of her colleagues, have become so calloused, that they are failing to hear voices of compassion and wisdom. Why not seek to give asylum seekers and economic migrants a chance to contribute to the UK’s so-called ‘world class’ economy? There is strong evidence that they are inclined to become net contributors although there are some, unpretty exceptions.