“As local councillors, we utterly condemn the latest moves to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda. We represent local communities that are strong, diverse and welcoming.

The poisonous rhetoric coming from Westminster is not reflected on the ground – our communities want to welcome their new neighbours, and build good lives together. This scheme, and any other future scheme that would send people seeking sanctuary away from the UK indefinitely, undermines that.

This Bill undermines universal human rights and the rule of law in the UK. It also sets a dangerous precedent - when the Supreme Court has ruled a country is unsafe, the Government cannot make it safe simply by legislating it. By pushing this Bill through Parliament in the run-up to a General Election, this Government is playing politics with people’s lives. As local councillors, we pledge to stand firm and do all we can to support residents at risk of removal to Rwanda.

We know that plans to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda have already caused real harm to our residents and our communities. To have risked everything to seek safety in the UK, only to be threatened with being sent thousands of miles away, has caused untold psychological damage to the people at risk.

We know that now, with the Bill becoming law, people seeking sanctuary in our communities will be left terrified. The threat of being sent to Rwanda, far from the support networks they have built up, is now all too real. As local councillors, we pledge to do all we can to resist these plans, and to support people at risk – whether that’s through helping residents at risk to access legal advice, connecting with community groups to safeguard people at risk of removal, or otherwise.

As local councillors, we have a mandate to support our residents to live good, dignified lives, and to support our communities to thrive together. That includes doing all we can to work in solidarity with residents at risk because of this Government’s anti-migrant agenda.”