Still say Rwanda isn't safe Sir Keir?

 December 17, 2023

EXCLUSIVE Still say Rwanda isn’t safe Sir Keir? Labour candidate sells CHILDREN’s holidays to the very country party insists is too risky for illegal migrants 

  • Sam Rushworth is standing to be MP of Bishop Auckland in County Durham
  • The company offers a ‘paradise package’ charging £1,999 per person for 10 days

Labour has been accused of hypocrisy for selecting a candidate who runs a business organising children’s holidays to Rwanda – while the party opposes Rishi Sunak’s policy of sending illegal migrants there on the grounds it is unsafe.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Sam Rushworth, who is standing to be MP in the target seat of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, is the founder of a company called African Dreams, which specialises in sending children as young as 13 to Rwanda.

Describing the country as a ‘safe and supporting environment’ for children, it promises to ‘give your teenager an unforgettable summer of action and adventure’. The company also offers a ‘paradise package’ in the central African nation, charging £1,999 per person for a ten-day holiday.

Yet Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has branded the Government’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda as ‘shameful’, and ‘deeply unethical’, saying it ‘goes against core British values, standards of decency and basic duty of care’.

Mr Rushworth has also publicly criticised the Rwanda scheme – while also using it to advertise his business.

Labour has been accused of hypocrisy for selecting a candidate who runs a business organising children’s holidays to Rwanda – while the party opposes Rishi Sunak’s policy of sending illegal migrants there on the grounds it is unsafe

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Sam Rushworth, who is standing to be MP in the target seat of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, is the founder of a company called African Dreams, which specialises in sending children as young as 13 to Rwanda

In 2022, while he was chairman of the local Labour Party, he told MPs discussing the plans that he ‘recommends’ using Africa Dreams to visit Rwanda and tweeted a link to his company’s website – without declaring his interest in it.

He has also said that he would ‘love dual citizenship’ with Rwanda, and said on social media that people should go there ‘to escape the UK winter’.

READ MORE:  How Rishi Sunak’s final throw of the dice on the Rwanda scheme could work – as he unveils the toughest migration law ever seen in the UK in a last-ditch bid to get flights off ground before the next election

Mr Rushworth founded African Dreams in 2018 and co-owns the Bishop Auckland-based company with his wife. He has described it as ‘Rwanda’s No 1 tour company’.

Advertising its Camp Rwanda package for schoolchildren, the company said: ‘Give your teenager an unforgettable summer of action and adventure at our all inclusive summer camp. For the same price as most domestic summer camps we offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore Rwanda’s wealth of wildlife and culturally enriching activities, in a safe and supportive environment, while making friends from around the world.’

Rishi Sunak last week oversaw a potential Commons rebellion to introduce legislation to designate Rwanda a safe country – after the Supreme Court ruled his proposals to send asylum seekers there unlawful.

Last week Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he would scrap the scheme if he becomes Prime Minister and described it as a ‘gimmick’ and ‘political performance art’.

Mr Rushworth told the MoS last night that the profits from African Dreams go to Rwandan charities and that he does not take a salary or dividends from the company. He added that he was ‘proud’ to have set up a business to ‘provide opportunities for people in Rwanda where all the profits remained in Rwanda’.

Mr Rushworth said that Covid had affected the business and that it is not currently organising tours, but plans to start up again. He said he had not declared the business in his 2022 tweet because he was not yet an MP. He has since taken the website down.

Conservative party chairman Richard Holden said: ‘The level of sheer hypocrisy from Sir Keir Starmer’s hand-picked Labour candidate is utterly staggering

Bishop Auckland is a ‘red wall’ seat which fell to the Tories at the 2019 Election –with a 7,962 majority – after almost 85 years as a Labour constituency.

Conservative party chairman Richard Holden said: ‘The level of sheer hypocrisy from Sir Keir Starmer’s hand-picked Labour candidate is utterly staggering.

‘Labour have voted more than 60 times to block our plans to tackle illegal immigration with flights to Rwanda pretending it’s not safe – yet one of their top candidates is selling children’s holidays there! It’s unbelievable hypocrisy.’

Michael Tomlinson, newly appointed Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, said: ‘The hypocrisy of the Labour Party has been exposed – every time Labour chooses to play political games, trying to block the Conservatives’ plan to stop the boats, rather than doing the right thing for the country. As The Mail on Sunday has revealed, Labour’s candidate thinks Rwanda is so safe he’s been sending children there for holidays yet his party take every opportunity to stop illegal migrants being sent there.’

A Labour spokesman said last night: ‘This is desperate stuff even by the Tories own standards. It’s ludicrous to try and compare a school trip with subcontracting our asylum system to Rwanda.

‘It was the UK courts, not the Labour Party, that determined Rwanda wasn’t an appropriate place for the Government to send asylum seekers to.

‘The Tories should stop wasting millions of taxpayers’ money on this Rwanda gimmick and deliver Labour’s plan to smash the gangs which is the only thing that will work to stop the channel crossings.’

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