Rwanda sues British Government over deserted asylum plan, probably hitting UK taxpayer with £50million invoice
Rwanda is suing Britain for millions of pounds after Labour scrapped the asylum deal between the two countries.
The east African nation has launched legal action which could see the British taxpayer hit with a massive bill, potentially more than £50million.
The dispute is being dealt with at the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Rwanda’s legal claim was ‘yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme’.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ditched the previous government’s asylum deal as one of his first acts in office.
The scheme was just days away from finally removing Channel small boat migrants from the UK to Kigali, where they would have been housed and offered the chance to claim asylum.
Labour’s decision to abandon the deal was followed by a massive surge in the number of migrants crossing by dinghy from northern France.
As a result, latest data from the Home Office shows 36,273 migrants were in full-board hotel accommodation – paid for by the taxpayer – at the end of September, up nearly 7,000 since Labour came to power.
Then-Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Vincent Biruta, shake hands after signing the asylum agreement in Kigali in 2022
The legal dispute is understood to focus on the UK Government’s alleged failure to formally terminate the agreement in 2024.
The aborted scheme has already cost the UK taxpayer £715million, according to Home Office figures.
Last year it was reported that the Rwandan government was demanding a further £50million for the cancelled scheme.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ditched the Rwanda deal after winning power in 2024
Under the terms of the deal originally signed by Priti Patel when she was home secretary under PM Boris Johnson in 2022, a number of staged payments were to be made to Rwanda by the UK.
In all, £290million was paid directly to the Rwandan government under the deal.
A further £50million was due in April last year, and it is this sum that is thought to be at the centre of the dispute.
The government of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has launched legal action against the UK government over the abandoned deal
Migrants were to be housed in Rwanda – including at Hope Hostel in Kigali, pictured – and claim asylum in the country
Now it can be revealed that Rwanda lodged a ‘notice of arbitration’ with the court, based in The Hague, in November.
The papers named the country’s minister of justice and attorney general, Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, as the ‘representative of the claimants’.
Rwanda has instructed Lord Verdirame KC, a crossbench peer, of London-based barristers’ chambers Twenty Essex.
The papers also named Dan Hobbs, the Home Office director for migration and borders, as a representative in the case.
The Home Office has instructed Ben Juratowitch of London-based Essex Court Chambers.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘This is yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme.
‘The deal was ready to see the first flights take off, and ditching it was a borderline act of treachery.
‘This legal action means the British taxpayer is now facing a huge bill for Labour’s incompetence.
‘Britain should be sending illegal Channel migrants to Rwanda, not putting them up in hotels or ex-military sites like Crowborough, which opened last week to the great anxiety of local residents.
‘Labour was too weak to see this crucial policy through, and it’s the British taxpayer who is left to pick up the pieces.’
The Home Office was approached for comment.
