‘National scandal’ as shock report reveals Rwanda plan costs to top £500m

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Rishi Sunak’s beleaguered Rwanda deportation plan will value taxpayers greater than £500m, a shock report reveals at this time.

In a revelation branded a “national scandal” by Labour, the general public spending watchdog mentioned the scheme would value £576.8m if simply 300 asylum seekers had been despatched to the east African nation.

It would symbolize a complete of £1.92m per individual despatched to Rwanda and account for simply 1 per cent of the UK’s asylum seekers.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow residence secretary, mentioned: “This report reveals the national scandal the Tories have been trying to hide.”

The authorities’s plan, unveiled two years in the past by Boris Johnson, was for these arriving within the UK through irregular routes such as channel crossings to be completely deported to Rwanda.

It was deemed illegal in November by the Supreme Court and Mr Sunak is staging a determined last-ditch bid to drive the plan by – with a invoice deeming Rwanda a “safe” nation making its manner by the House of Lords.

But the PM will come underneath recent strain over the scheme after the National Audit Office (NAO) laid naked its value – sufficient to cowl the £20,000-a-day invoice for migrant patrol vessel HMS Mersey for the subsequent 70 years.

Among the report’s key findings had been:

The deportation coverage is a key plank of Mr Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”, with the PM and residential secretary James Cleverly arguing it can act as a deterrent to potential asylum seekers.

But the federal government has been closely criticised for failing to produce any proof of the supposed deterrent impact, and Home Office everlasting secretary Matthew Rycroft advised MPs final 12 months there was none.

The Home Office has up to now refused to say how way more cash, on top of the £290m already confirmed, the UK has agreed to pay Kigali underneath the stalled plan.

But the NAO’s first full breakdown of the costs of the scheme will pile strain on Mr Sunak to scrap the programme.

Labour, which is able to scrap the coverage if it wins the overall election anticipated this autumn, mentioned the PM has “staked his position on this scheme” and “must account for this fiasco”.

Ms Cooper mentioned: “This report reveals the national scandal the Tories have been trying to hide. Its shocking analysis shows the costs of the failed Rwanda farce are even higher than previously thought.

“In order to send less than 1 per cent of UK asylum seekers to Rwanda on a few symbolic flights, the taxpayer will be forced fork out over half a billion pounds – with no ability to recover any of the money already sent. This is the equivalent of nearly £2m per person sent.”

Meanwhile, Dame Diana Johnson, chair of parliament’s influential residence affairs committee, mentioned the price of the scheme was “staggering”.

“For all its rhetoric about ensuring value for money in the asylum and immigration system it is unclear how schemes such as Rwanda or the Bibby Stockholm barge achieve that,” she mentioned.

Dame Diana mentioned the “huge initial outlay” and ongoing costs “raise serious questions about how this can be cost-effective, even compared to high hotel accommodation costs”.

Refugee Council chief government Enver Solomon mentioned: “These figures reveal the extortionate bill the taxpayer will have to pay the Rwandan government for an unworkable and inhumane scheme that will not deter people seeking protection on our shores.”

Britain is spending £8m a day, or greater than £3bn a 12 months, housing asylum seekers in motels.

And the Home Office mentioned that “doing nothing is not without significant costs”. “Unless we act, the cost of housing asylum seekers is set to reach £11bn per year by 2026,” a spokesperson mentioned.

The spokesperson added: “Illegal migration costs lives and perpetuates human trafficking, and it is therefore right that we fund solutions to break this unsustainable cycle.

“We have a strong relationship with Rwanda and both sides remain absolutely determined to deliver on this partnership. Once the Safety of Rwanda Bill and Treaty are in place, we will focus on getting flights off the ground.”

The variety of migrants crossing the channel final 12 months fell by round a 3rd, and Mr Sunak has mentioned he’s “getting on with” delivering on the cease the boats pledge. He has spoken about wanting to get flights departing to Rwanda “as soon as practically possible”.

It was already identified that an additional £50m was earmarked for the partnership for subsequent 12 months. But the NAO revealed the identical sum can even be despatched to Rwanda in 2025 and in 2026, taking the price to £370m.

On top of that, as soon as the primary 300 migrants have been relocated to Rwanda, ministers have agreed to put one other £120m into the fund, lifting the whole to £490m.

In addition, an additional £20,000 will probably be paid to Rwanda for each asylum seeker relocated there, in accordance to the NAO report.

The Home Office can even individually hand Kigali practically £151,000 per individual to cowl asylum processing and integration costs, such as lodging, meals, healthcare and schooling, over 5 years in the event that they keep within the nation.

If they determine to go away, Britain would halt funds for that individual, however would nonetheless give Rwanda a one-off £10,000 to assist facilitate their departure.

The authorities has already despatched Kigali an advance cost of £20m to cowl these processing and operational costs for the primary arrivals.

In complete, the price in a state of affairs the place 300 people had been despatched to Rwanda would equal £576.8m.

It got here as new authorities figures present 120,000 folks had been nonetheless ready on a call on their asylum declare on the finish of December final 12 months, regardless of a document variety of refugees being granted safety.