Saturday 11 June 2022 11:40 PM Civil service union boss refuses to rule out BOYCOTTING government's 'illegal' ... trends now
Ministers appeared to be on a collision course with the civil servants’ union last night, after its leader said his members should not have to work on the controversial policy of sending migrants to Rwanda.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), refused to rule out a boycott of the scheme, which he considers ‘illegal’.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he insisted that his union, which represents 80 per cent of Border Force staff, would continue to fight the scheme, saying: ‘These atrocious proposals will be found to be illegal.’
Despite a High Court judge on Friday dismissing a bid by campaigners to halt the first flight to Rwanda, Mr Serwotka said the plans ‘have been condemned, not just by Prince Charles seemingly, but by the Archbishop of Canterbury, all the leading charities, the UNHCR [the UN refugee agency] and indeed the workers who I represent who have been told to do these dreadful things’.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), refused to rule out a boycott of the Rwanda asylum scheme, which he considers ‘illegal’
The already strained relationship between Home Secretary Priti Patel and her civil servants has come close to breaking point over the Government’s latest bid to tackle the migrant crisis.
The PCS union and the migration charities Detention Action and Care4Calais will tomorrow go to the Court of Appeal in a renewed bid to block the first flight, scheduled for Tuesday. In a second, separate High Court claim, the refugee charity Asylum Aid will also seek an injunction to block the flights.
Asked repeatedly if his members would refuse to work on the policy, Mr Serwotka – who is paid £95,000 a year plus more than £15,000 in other perks – said: ‘Our members are involved in this process from start to finish. It’s the case in the Home Office that there is unprecedented opposition to this policy.
‘We will talk to our members about what they will do, but we are confident that we will win the legal case. Our members should not be in a position that they are being asked to do things that could potentially be [found] to be illegal.’
The already strained relationship between Home Secretary Priti Patel and her civil servants has come close to breaking point over the Government’s latest bid to tackle the migrant crisis.
After Friday’s court verdict, Ms Patel said: ‘People will continue to try to prevent [migrants’] relocation through legal challenges and last-minute claims, but we will not be deterred in breaking the deadly people-smuggling trade and ultimately saving lives.’
