Rwanda gets extra £20m for stalled asylum deal… and still not a single plane carrying migrants to the country has taken off

• The sum was for ‘initial set-up costs’, on top of £120million in April, said minister
• But Suella Braverman has said the first flight will not leave for at least a year
• The policy is bogged down by two separate judicial reviews in the High Court

Britain has paid the Rwandan government an extra £20million for the stalled asylum deal – even though not a single migrant has yet been deported.

Immigration minister Tom Pursglove said the sum was for ‘initial set-up costs’, on top of £120million in April.

The new sum will pay for caseworkers, translators and other costs including accommodation. Under the plan, some migrants will be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda to claim asylum there.

However, the project is in legal limbo. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said the first flight will not leave for at least a year.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Doing nothing is not an option when people are dying and a radical new approach is needed.’

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is pictured. The UK has paid the Rwandan government an extra £20million for its asylum deal, though not a single migrant has yet arrived

The European Court of Human Rights barred the Home Office’s first attempt at a removal flight less than an hour before it was due to take off in June.

Since then, the policy has been bogged down by two separate judicial reviews in the High Court.

Opponents including the Public and Commercial Services trade union and a number of migrant charities claim the policy is ‘unlawful’.

Details of the new £20million spend were obtained by Labour in a parliamentary question.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘It is shocking that the Government has given Rwanda a further £20million on top of the £120million already spent for a policy that the Home Secretary herself has admitted is “failing”.

‘This policy is extortionately expensive, deeply damaging, unworkable and unethical.

‘It won’t stop the criminal gangs and risks making trafficking worse.

‘Instead of throwing away more money on this failing policy, the Government should listen to Labour, and use it instead for the National Crime Agency to crack down on the criminal gangs driving Channel crossings.’

The sum was for ‘initial set-up costs’, on top of £120million in April, but Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said the first flight will not leave for at least a year

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