The cost of the Rwanda scheme has doubled to £300 million despite never having been used, the Home Office reveals
The cost of the Rwanda scheme has doubled to almost £300million, despite never being used, the Home Office admitted last night.
Whitehall sources told the Mail ministers had signed off payments totalling a further £100million to the east African state on top of the original £140million cost. A further £50million for next year has already been agreed, taking the total to £290million since the deal was first agreed last year.
Millions more are expected to be paid if the Government eventually succeeds in deporting any Channel migrants there.
The emergence of the staggering figures is an embarrassment for the Home Office, which told MPs last month it would not provide a ‘running commentary’ on the cost.
In a letter to Parliament last night, the Home Office admitted to the figures, but insisted they were not linked to the signing of a new treaty with Rwanda this week.
Rishi Sunak hosts a press conference inside the Downing Street Briefing Room after Britain and Rwanda sign a new treaty to transfer illegal migrants to the African country
The cost of the Rwanda scheme has doubled to almost £300million, despite never being used. Pictured: Staff board the first plane to transport migrants to Rwanda which never took off
Ministers have defended the cost on the grounds the scheme could eventually save money by deterring thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel – slashing accommodation and processing costs which run to billions of pounds a year. But with no migrants sent to Rwanda, the costs are likely to be increasingly difficult to justify.
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The original £140million bill comprised £120million for the ‘economic development and growth of Rwanda’, with £20million to support ‘initial set-up costs’ for the scheme, including the creation of a reception centre in the capital Kigali in 2022.
But a planned deportation flight in June that year was blocked after a last-minute injunction by the European Court of Human Rights.
This triggered a wave of legal action which eventually led to the scheme being ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last month.
Despite this, ministers signed off a further £100million payment in April this year for ‘economic transformation’ in Rwanda.
The Home Office confirmed that a further £50million has already been agreed for next year.
If migrants are eventually sent to Rwanda, the UK Government has agreed to pay an additional per-person fee to cover living and administration costs.
Ministers had tried to keep the costs secret in the hope that they would not be revealed until flights have finally started.
The Desir Resort Hotel, which is one of the locations which was expected to house some of the asylum-seekers due to be sent from Britain to Rwanda
At an appearance before the Commons Home Affairs Committee last month, Home Office permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft said figures would only be released in an annual report next summer. ‘Ministers have decided the way to update Parliament is annually, rather than by giving a running commentary,’ he said.
Dame Diana Johnson, Labour chairman of the committee, said secrecy over the policy ‘shows a total disregard for the vital role select committees play in holding the government to account’.
In his letter last night, sent after the Mail approached the Home Office, Mr Rycroft said ‘ministers have agreed that I can disclose now the payments so far’.
He denied reports the UK paid Rwanda a further £15million for signing the new treaty, adding: ‘The Government of Rwanda did not ask for any payment in order for a treaty to be signed, nor was any offered.’
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