Rwanda seeks £100 million from UK over botched asylum deal

The Rwandan government is claiming it is owed £100 million by the UK over payments due under an asylum agreement cancelled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Rwanda has filed an international arbitration case, arguing the UK has breached the terms of the deal to send some asylum seekers to the east African nation.

Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in Britain, reports the BBC.

In a statement, Rwanda’s government said it had decided to pursue claims in arbitration after facing the UK’s “intransigence on these issues”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money.

“We will robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers.”

The Rwandan government’s statement said it was making three claims in relation to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, which was signed in 2022 when Boris Johnson was prime minister.

The statement accuses the UK of breaching the deal by setting out the financial terms of the agreement publicly, failing to make payments totalling £100 million, and “refusing to make arrangements to resettle vulnerable refugees from Rwanda”.

As part of the partnership, the UK had agreed to resettle a small number of vulnerable refugees who were already being hosted in Rwanda and had not been sent there from Britain.

In 2022, the Home Office said this was expected to amount to “tens” of cases, involving people who have complex needs, such as acute health problems.

The previous Conservative government spent some £700m on the Rwanda policy, which was intended to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Only four volunteers arrived in Rwanda when the deal was in force and Sir Keir said the plan was “dead and buried”, shortly after Labour won the 2024 general election.

The deal included a break clause, which said “each party may terminate this agreement by giving notice to the other party in writing”.

The £700 million included £290 million of payments to Rwanda.

In December 2024, the Home Office said a further £100 million of payments would have been due under the treaty, £50 million in each of the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years.

In addition, the Home Office agreed to pay £120 million upon the transfer of 300 people to Rwanda.

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