Policing minister Chris Philp asks if Rwanda and Congo are different countries leaving audience members in shock
25 April 2024, 23:15 | Updated: 26 April 2024, 15:35
Policing minister Chris Philp left audience members shocked after he asked whether Rwanda was a different country from Congo.
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The government minister was questioned by an audience member about the government's new Rwanda Bill and what this meant for those travelling to the UK from the neighbouring country of Congo.
Speaking on Question Time, a man in the audience asked: “I’m come from a neighbouring country called Congo, if you know geographically that it’s located right next door to Rwanda.
“And right now in Goma there’s a genocide going on and there’s such a big conflict going on with people from Rwanda.
“So had my family members come from Goma on a crossing right now, would they be sent back to the country there’s supposedly warring in Rwanda. Does that make any sense to you?”
Mr Philp replied: “I think there’s an exclusion on people from Rwanda being sent to Rwanda.”
The man followed: "They’re not from Rwanda, they’re from Congo and they’re supposedly warring these people from Rwanda, are they then gonna be sent to Rwanda if they came here on a crossing?”
Mr Philp then asked: "Rwanda is a different country from Congo isn’t it?”
Read more: Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary says he'd 'happily' offer Rwanda deportation flights
Question Time - Policing minister Chris Philp appears to confuse Congo and Rwanda
The audience member asked the question amid ongoing conflicts between the two nations.
The audience broke out into gasps and stifled laughter following the question, meanwhile the camera cut to Shadow Secretary for Health and Social Care West Streeting, who also featured on the panel, who appeared bewildered by the question.
Mr Philp later clarified: "So there is a clause in the legislation that says if somebody would suffer - I think the phrase is 'serious and irreversible harm' by being sent somewhere they wouldn't be sent so there is that safety mechanism built into the legislation."
It comes after the Prime Minister’s flagship Rwanda bill was passed on Monday after he announced the first flights deporting asylum seekers to the country would take off in 10 to 12 weeks.
The bill was officially passed into law on after being granted royal assent on Thursday.
It followed weeks of parliamentary deadlock between the Commons and Lords.
The bill is intended to overcome the objections of the Supreme Court by forcing judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country for asylum seekers and allowing ministers to ignore emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.
