Fury over £50m Rwanda lawsuit as Labour leaves taxpayers to foot bill | Politics | News

A former immigration minister has warned Rwanda will sue the UK after Labor scrapped the deportation deal to “appease the chattering classes who are quite happy to see the small boat migrants arriving”.

Taxpayers were faced with a “huge bill” after Sir Keir Starmer canceled the deal with Kigali on his first day in office.

The government was accused of “recklessness” on Tuesday and legal action was allegedly taken after authorities failed to officially terminate the scheme.

The claim, submitted through the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, claims that Rwanda was prepared to forgo the £50 million payment because the new government was prepared to abandon the plan, but Labor did not terminate the agreement with the country.

Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster said: “The Rwandan Government is seeking payment under the agreement.

“The reality is that Keir Starmer brushed this aside on day one, but since Labor came to power we have seen an increase in arrivals on small boats.

“It wasn’t just Rwanda that was needed to solve the small boat crisis; it was a whole package of measures.

“Ironically, we now see the US looking at Rwanda, Denmark looking at using Rwanda, and Britain, which came up with the idea, deciding to use the slogan ‘smash the gangs’.

“It adds insult to injury to taxpayers. ‘Smashing the gangs’ was not a strategy. If that’s the case, it doesn’t surprise me to hear that it’s just sloppiness on the part of small boat immigrants even rushing to cancel a deal to appease the chattering classes who are quite happy to see them arrive as long as they’re not housed.”

“This is another sign that the Government lacks a comprehensive strategy.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is another disastrous consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda plan.

“The agreement was ready to see the first flights take off, and abandoning it was an act of borderline treason.

“This legal action means British taxpayers now face a huge bill for Labour’s incompetence.

“Britain should send illegal Channel migrants to Rwanda, not put them up in hotels or former military sites such as Crowborough, which caused great concern from locals last week.

“Labour was too weak to deliver this important policy and it was left to British taxpayers to pick up the pieces.”

Taxpayers have already allocated more than £700 million to the Rwanda scheme.

And Kigali last year demanded £50 million to be paid by April 2025.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed that money would be distributed in phases to the Government of Rwanda.

A total of £290 million was paid directly to the Rwandan government under the agreement.

A Government spokesman said: “We will fight this strongly in the courts to protect British taxpayers.

“The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted a huge amount of taxpayers’ time and money.”