Gary Lineker among famous faces calling on Government to scrap 'uncaring' and 'chaotic' Rwanda plan

Succession star Brian Cox and television presenter Gary Lineker are among high-profile signatories to a letter calling for the Government to scrap its Rwanda scheme and for political leaders to come up with a 'fair new plan for refugees'. They branded Britain’s refugee system 'ever-more uncaring, chaotic and costly', and said asylum policies are not working.

The correspondence, also signed by women’s rights campaigner Helen Pankhurst, Hotel Rwanda star Sophie Okonedo and television chef Big Zuu, who is the son of a refugee from Sierra Leone, comes in the week MPs will debate and vote on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The Government hopes to rush emergency legislation through Parliament declaring Rwanda a safe destination for asylum seekers, after the Supreme Court last month ruled against the scheme.

The letter, co-ordinated by campaign coalition Together With Refugees, states: "Our Government is still trying to banish people fleeing persecution to Rwanda despite the highest court in the land ruling the scheme unlawful. Tens of thousands of people are stuck in limbo waiting for their refugee protection to be processed, separated from their families and barred from working.

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"These policies aren’t working for refugees and they aren’t working for local communities. That’s why we have come together to say we’ve had enough.

"Enough of the division. Enough of the short-term thinking. Enough of the wasted human potential. And it’s why we now call for something better."

Signatories