British government says Tories spent $1.5b to send four people to Rwanda voluntarily

By Becky Morton, BBC political reporter

The Conservatives' Rwanda scheme cost taxpayers £700 million (NZ$1.5 billion), Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said.

The previous government had planned to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda to deter people from crossing the Channel in small boats.

However, the scheme was stalled by legal challenges and Cooper said only four people had been removed to the country voluntarily.

Labour has said it is scrapping the scheme, describing it as an "expensive gimmick".

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly accused his counterpart of using "made up numbers".

Meanwhile, Cooper also confirmed the government would resume processing of all asylum claims, including individuals who arrived in the UK illegally.

Giving a statement in the Commons, Cooper said the figure of £700m (NZ$1.5b) included £290m of payments to Rwanda, the cost of chartering flights that never took off, detaining hundreds of people and then releasing them, as well as paying for more than 1000 civil servants to work on the scheme.

The £700m figure is higher than those previously in the public domain, but includes additional costs such as for detention and civil service salaries.

"A scheme to send four people, it is the most shocking waste of taxpayers' money I have ever seen," she said.

"Looking forward, the costs are set to get worse. Even if the scheme had ever got going it's clear it would only cover a minority of arrivals, yet a substantial portion of future costs were fixed costs."

Cooper added that over six years the government had planned to spend more than £10bn of taxpayers' money on the scheme.

However, Cleverly accused Cooper of "hyperbole" and "made up numbers".

He claimed Labour had scrapped the Rwanda scheme on "ideological grounds", arguing it was needed as a deterrent.

He added: "The level of discourtesy, directed towards the people and government of Rwanda is quite breathtaking.

"To have them read about this decision in the papers before anyone from government had the good grace to formally notify them, I think, is an error, and no one in this House believes for a moment that that level of discourtesy would have happened had this partnership been with the European country."

Cleverly also questioned where people who arrived on small boats from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria would be sent if they could not be returned home or removed to Rwanda.

Cooper said by scrapping the scheme the government would save £220m on further direct payments to Rwanda over the next few years, as well as up to £750m that has been put aside to cover the scheme this year.

The home secretary said some of the money saved would be invested in a new Border Security Command, bringing together Border Force officials, police and intelligence agencies to tackle people-smuggling gangs.

She added that Home Office staff were being redeployed from the scheme to work on enforcement and returning failed asylum seekers.

The UK government previously said it was looking carefully at what money could be recouped after scrapping the scheme.

However, the Rwandan government has said it is under "no obligation" to refund any money.

Cooper also accused the previous Conservative government of creating an "asylum Hotel California", where people arrived in the asylum system and were put up in taxpayer-funded accommodation but never left.

Under the Illegal Migration Act, which was passed in July last year, Cooper said no decision could be taken on an individual's case if they arrived in the UK after March 2023 and met certain conditions in the legislation.

"Even if they've come here unlawfully for economic reasons and should be returned to their home country, they won't be because the law doesn't work," she said.

"Only a small minority might ever have been sent to Rwanda and everyone else stays indefinitely in taxpayer-funded accommodation and support."

She said the Home Office estimates around 40 percent of asylum cases since March 2023 are covered by the conditions in the act but the previous government did not introduce an effective way to distinguish between cases which were not covered - so decisions could not be taken on any cases.

Cooper said she had been "shocked to discover that the Home Office has effectively stopped making the majority of asylum decisions".

She added: "The previous government's policy was effectively an amnesty and that is the wrong thing to do."

Cooper said the government would change the law so the Home Office could "immediately start clearing cases from after March 2023", estimating this would save the taxpayer around £7bn over the next 10 years.

However, Cleverly said it was Labour which was giving an effective "amnesty", by sending the message that "if you arrive by small boat, you can claim asylum".

Cooper warned that high levels of small boat crossings were likely to persist over the summer.

So far this year, more than 15,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats.

The figure is higher than numbers for the same period in the previous four years, although in 2023 as a whole there was a drop compared to 2022.

- BBC