Britain has paid Rwanda an extra £20 million to fund the processing of migrants, despite failing to deport anybody to the African country, it has emerged.
The extra payment has pushed the cost of the government’s controversial Rwanda policy up by almost a fifth before it has been implemented.
It comes on top of the £120 million that the UK initially agreed to pay Rwanda under the initial terms of the migration and economic development partnership that was signed in April.
That money went towards unrelated development projects in the African country.
However, the UK has since made a down payment of £20 million to cover processing costs for the first migrants to be relocated to Rwanda.
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The Home Office did not say how many migrants this would cover or when the payment was made, but said it was paid “recently”.
The deal is intended to relocate migrants who do not have an admissible claim for UK asylum to Rwanda, where they will be given the opportunity to apply for asylum and “rebuild their lives”.
However, the UK government has failed to deport a single migrant to Rwanda. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has accepted it will take months before the policy can be implemented because of legal challenges.
Asked whether it would be realistic to expect migrants to be sent to Rwanda before Christmas, Braverman said at the Conservative party conference earlier this month: “That would be amazing but if I’m honest I think it’s going to take long [sic].” She later admitted that the government was “failing” on the Rwanda scheme but insisted she was committed to making it work.
The High Court is due to deliver its judgement on two judicial reviews brought against the policy next month, but even if the Home Office wins the case, claimants are likely to appeal the case to the Supreme Court and potentially the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
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Braverman is not understood to be planning to activate the policy until the legal process has ended.
The ECHR prevented a first flight of seven migrants from taking off in June with a last-minute injunction.
The extra £20 million cost of the Rwanda policy was disclosed by Tom Pursglove, the immigration minister, in answer to a parliamentary question about the cost of the policy from Stephen Kinnock, his Labour counterpart, last week.
Pursglove said: “The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120 million as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership. The UK is also funding the processing costs for each person relocated, such as caseworkers, legal advice, translators, accommodation, food, healthcare, and for those granted protection, a comprehensive integration package to help them put down roots and start a new life. The UK has also made a £20 million upfront payment to the government of Rwanda to support initial setup costs.”
Kinnock told The Times: “It is shocking that the government has given Rwanda a further £20 million on top of the £120 million already spent for a policy that the home secretary herself has admitted is failing and where her own officials described it as unenforceable ...[and the] fraud risk is very high.
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“The full cost is also likely to be much higher. 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.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The broken asylum system is currently putting the UK taxpayer over £2 billion out of pocket a year, with almost £5 million a day spent on housing migrants.
“Through our world-leading Migration Partnership, the UK paid an initial £120 million to go towards Rwanda’s development. Separately, we made an upfront payment of £20 million to support processing costs such as caseworkers, legal advice, translators, accommodation, food and healthcare.
“But those focusing solely on costs are missing the point — doing nothing is not an option when people are dying and a radical new approach is needed to fix the global migration crisis.”
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The Rwanda policy was designed to deter migrants from crossing the Channel, but since the deal was signed in April, more than 30,000 migrants have crossed in small boats.
There were more crossings yesterday, with about 300 migrants seen being brought in to the port of Dover on Border Force boats. It takes the total for this year to more than 36,000.
