The next government must put an end to the “hostile environment” towards refugees, argue the Greens

Party co-leader Patrick Harvie criticized the 14-year-old “anti-refugee” policy, saying it “punished vulnerable people and families” and witnessed thousands being held in “horrible prison-like conditions” before visiting a Glasgow hospital on Tuesday. .

The Scottish Greens have called for the immediate repeal of the Rwanda agreement and an end to the use of “brutal” detention centers and institutional facilities such as barracks, hotels and barges to house refugees.

The agreement with Rwanda signed by former Home Secretary Priti Patel on April 14, 2022, allowed migrants to be given a one-way ticket to the East African country if they were deemed to have arrived in the UK illegally.

Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak described the plan as a “vital deterrent” and insisted he would implement it if re-elected, but admitted no flights would take off before the general election.

Harvie said: “The hostile environment is one of the most terrible, shameful and racist legacies of this Tory government.

“They thrived on spreading fear and division, and treated people’s lives as political pawns in their culture war.

“From dawn raids to prison-like detentions and deportation flights to Rwanda, instead of showing humanity, they chased right-wing headlines.

“Our public services and local businesses across Scotland are crying out for more workers, but this has been made significantly more difficult by a Tory government that has delivered a disastrous Brexit and shown complete disregard for the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

“The Conservatives have made the situation much worse, but the shameful truth is that it started under the last Labor government and I have no confidence that Keir Starmer’s party will make the breakthrough needed.

“Freedom, empathy, compassion and solidarity are at the heart of the system we want to see.

“Every vote for the Scottish Greens will be a strike against the politics of hate and to dismantle a racist and reactionary Home Office that is fit for purpose.”