Following a previous payment of £140 million earlier this year, the UK government has announced an extra £100 million in funds to support the resettlement of asylum seekers to Rwanda.
An additional payment of £50 million is due in the coming year, according to Sir Matthew Rycroft, the Home Office’s chief civil servant.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the relocation effort in April 2022, with the goal of processing and potentially relocating asylum seekers in Rwanda as a deterrence to those attempting to cross the English Channel in tiny boats. Despite repeated delays caused by legal challenges, no asylum seekers have been transported from the UK under this arrangement.
The new financing was revealed immediately after Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to resurrect the initiative following the resignation of the immigration minister. This action is part of the government’s effort to remedy the program, which the Supreme Court said was illegal last month.
Sir Matthew stressed that the higher payments had nothing to do with a new deal concluded this week between the United Kingdom and Rwanda. The monies, according to legal migration minister Tom Pursglove, are critical to ensuring the robustness of the Rwanda policy, which plays a critical role in decreasing the government’s daily expenditure on housing migrants in UK hotels, which is presently estimated at £8 million.
The numbers were released in response to Home Affairs Select Committee and Public Accounts Committee investigations. The chair of the spending watchdog, Dame Meg Hiller, highlighted concerns about transparency, claiming that the government’s delayed publication of the entire costs revealed a potential lack of transparency.
Labour slammed the extra charges, with shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper calling the government’s commitment to the plan a “total farce.” The Rwandan Home Office emphasized that the country can initially absorb 200 persons per year, with plans to expand this number in the future.
Chancellor Sunak offered emergency legislation mandating judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country in an attempt to overcome legal objections. The measure gives ministers the authority to reject elements of the Human Rights Act but stops short of discarding the European Convention on Human Rights, which has sparked resistance within the Conservative Party.
Despite ministerial assurances, questions remain about the legislation’s effectiveness in preventing legal challenges and its ability to handle the issue of migrant expulsion to Rwanda. The law is due to be debated in parliament next week, with ongoing discussions about its possible impact and the need for additional revisions.