After a speech in which he announced his plans to tackle illegal immigration, the Labour leader committed to scrapping the Rwanda scheme "absolutely, flights and all".
Starmer told Sky News: "There will be no flights scheduled or taking off after the general election if Labour wins that general election."
The Labour leader made the commitments in Deal, part of the constituency represented by Natalie Elphicke, who defected to Labour this week from the Conservatives.
Elphicke introduced Starmer before his speech and said that under his leadership Labour occupied the centre ground and looked to the future. She added: "Nowhere is Rishi Sunak's lack of delivery clearer than on the issue of small boats."
James Cleverly, the home secretary, claimed it was "comic" for Labour to scrap the scheme when it was "demonstrably" working, despite no flights departing for Rwanda yet.
Starmer described it as a "gimmick" and a "waste of money", and said he would replace it with a border security command.
He added: "Of course that means we won't operate the scheme at all ... I'm not going to flog a dead horse or waste my time with gimmicks."
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Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin May 11, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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