Boscombe Down – Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire

Government succeeds in getting the Rwanda bill passed

April 2024

After what has seemed like a lifetime, the government has finally succeeded today, 23 April 2024, in getting its bill through both houses of parliament. The first flights are due to take off in 10 – 12 weeks that is in July. The airfield is as yet unknown but there is a possibility they will use Boscombe Down near Salisbury again as it is a military airfield surrounded by a high fence. There are some rumours to that effect.

Questions now are whether legal challenges will stand in the way. The government has declared Rwanda to be a safe country despite the evidence to the contrary. We do not know what the reaction of the European court will be. A robust challenge by them will renew calls by some politicians for us to depart from its jurisdiction.

This feels like a pivotal moment. Months have been spent on this problem and no doubt considerable civil service time has been spent on it as well. The cost has been considerable and the government has been reluctant to reveal the figures. An estimate is £370m with another £120m to come. There will be further sums for each asylum seeker despatched. There will be other administration and transport costs as well. The cost per person are difficult to estimate because it does depend on the numbers sent since some costs are fixed. As we move into what might be termed the ‘delivery’ phase of this project, issues of whether civil servants will be comfortable with the work they have to do and the response of the ECtHR are awaited.

The main purpose of the policy is to act as a deterrent. It is hoped – expected even – that news of the departures to Rwanda will deter those seeking to cross the Channel and seriously damage the business model of the smugglers. Whether this happens remains to be seen but with no end to wars and political instability in the world and the ease with which boats and outboard motors can be acquired from Turkey, suggests that this is a low risk, high reward activity unlikely to be deterred by a small percentage being sent to Rwanda.

Both local MPs, John Glen and Danny Kruger, voted for the bill.

Two local group members go to Boscombe Down for the first Rwanda flight

The first flight scheduled to take refugees to Rwanda as part of the government’s refugee policy designed, it is claimed, to deter boat crossings in the Channel, was switched from Stanstead to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. The airfield is close to Amesbury. It may have been done to make protests difficult to organise because of the distance between the two.

Two members of the local group managed to get to the perimeter of the airfield which gave a view of the runway. There was a large police presence and about half a dozen camera crews as well. The charter flight could be seen in the distance. At one stage the landing lights were switched on and take off was expected. There was considerable vehicle activity on the airfield and around the aircraft. Then the lights were switched off and sometime later the flight was cancelled following a last minute intervention by the ECHR. This is likely only to be a temporary respite however.

The photos show part of the media activity, Amnesty banners and the charter flight in the distance. We apologise for the poor quality due to the low light level.