Rwanda has demanded the UK pay more than £100m over the failed migrant deportation deal which Sir Keir Starmer scrapped in 2024 when Labour came to power.
During a hearing at The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, the East African country claimed Britain owed the money under the agreement which was struck by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.
The scheme would have involved some asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there.
The deal included arrangements for payments to Rwanda to help cover costs.
By the time of the 2024 general election, the Tory government had already spent £700m on its flagship immigration policy, under which migrants who arrived in the UK by boat from France would be sent to Kigali in a bid to deter Channel crossings.
But just four volunteers ultimately arrived in Rwanda before the plan was scrapped.
Rwanda’s justice minister and attorney general Emmanuel Ugirashebuja told the hearing on Wednesday his nation had set up an asylum appeals chamber, created ministerial and administrative structures and “prepared reception facilities for the incoming refugees and incurred significant costs in doing so”.
But when Sir Keir took office, “the new prime minister declared the Rwanda scheme to be dead and buried on his first full day in office,” Mr Ugirashebuja said.
“The United Kingdom did not do Rwanda the courtesy of informing it in advance. Instead, Rwanda was left to read about these developments in the media.”
Rwanda has claimed the UK breached the terms of its agreement and is owed the money.
The British government is urging the court to dismiss Rwanda’s claims, arguing the countries agreed in November 2024 that Rwanda would forgo the payments.
Rwanda denies that. Mr Ugirashebuja told the panel that the UK “sought to walk away from its legal obligations”.
Following news of the lawsuit, Downing Street defended its decision to end the scheme, saying it had been a “complete disaster”.
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said in a statement in January: “The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster. It wasted £700m of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers.
“The truth is that 84,000 people crossed the Channel from the day the Rwanda deal was signed to the day it was scrapped. It was never a deterrent.
“We will robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers, and we’re getting on with the job of focusing on effective ways to stamp out illegal migration, not costly gimmicks.”
Rwanda began the inter-state arbitration proceedings under the asylum partnership agreement in November, according to the Netherlands-based court’s website.
