Fury over £50m Rwanda lawsuit as Labour leaves taxpayers to foot invoice | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Rwanda is suing Britain after Labour axed the deportation deal to “appease chattering classes who are quite happy to see small boat migrants arriving”, a former immigration minister warned.

Taxpayers are being left to select up a “huge bill” after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the settlement with Kigali on his first day in workplace.

The Government was on Tuesday accused of “sloppiness”, with the authorized motion allegedly being triggered after officers didn’t formally terminate the scheme.

The declare, lodged by the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, alleges that Rwanda was ready to forego the £50million cost as a result of the brand new Government wished to scrap the scheme – however Labour didn’t terminate the settlement with the nation.

Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster mentioned: “The Rwandan Government is looking for payment under the agreement.

“The reality is, Keir Starmer scrapped this on day one, but since the Labour Party came to office, we’ve seen small boat arrivals surge.

“It wasn’t just Rwanda that was needed to solve the small boats crisis – it was a whole package of measures.

“Ironically, we can now see the US looking at Rwanda, Denmark looking at using Rwanda and yet Britain who came up with the idea has decided to use the slogan of ‘smash the gangs’.

“It adds insult to injury for taxpayers. ‘Smash the gangs’ was not a strategy. It doesn’t surprise me to hear, if this is the case, that there was just sloppiness even in how they rushed to cancel a deal to appease chattering classes who are quite happy to see small boat migrants arriving, just as long as they are not going to be housed near them.

“This is just another sign that the Government doesn’t have a comprehensive strategy.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp mentioned: “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.”

Taxpayers have already splurged greater than £700m on the Rwanda scheme.

And Kigali final yr demanded £50m that was due in April 2025.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed handy the Rwandan Government cash in phases.

In all, £290million was paid on to the Rwandan authorities below the deal.

A Government spokesman mentioned: “We will robustly fight this in the courts to protect British taxpayers.

“The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money.”