LONDON - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost taxpayers £1.8 million ($2.4 million) for each of the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali, Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has disclosed.
The overall cost of the scheme stands at more than half a billion pounds, according to the figures released to the National Audit Office. Even if the UK sends nobody to the central African state, Sunak has signed up to pay £370m from the public purse over the five-year deal.
The disclosures follow nearly three years of refusals by prime ministers, home secretaries and senior Home Office staff to explain the full costs of the deal, citing “commercial confidentiality”.
So far, no asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda, because of repeated challenges to the scheme under European and UK laws.
Disclosure, calculated on basis of 300 deportations, called ‘staggering’ by chair of home affairs committee
Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, expressed her shock at the final figures and expressed serious concerns at the lack of transparency.
Johnson, a Labour MP, said: “These are staggering figures. Huge initial outlay and ongoing costs raise serious questions about how this can be cost-effective, even compared to high hotel accommodation costs.
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“What we are left with is a very expensive programme the government hopes may offer a deterrent to those seeking to cross the Channel in small boats. Yet, there is little evidence for this either.
“Unless the government deals with the realities of the situation and focuses its energy and the public’s money on fixing the real issues in the asylum and immigration system, it will achieve nothing.”
The Home Office has agreed to make two types of direct payments to the government of Rwanda, auditors said. The UK will pay to the economic transformation and integration fund (ETIF), which is designed to support economic growth in Rwanda; and make payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda.
The Home Office has paid £220m into the ETIF since April 2022, and it will pay further amounts of £50 million in 2024-25, £50 million in 2025-26 and £50 million in 2026-27.
A “five-year processing and integration package” for each relocated person, which covers accommodation, essential items such as food, medical services, education and other integration programmes has also been agreed, the report said. This will cost up to £150,874 for each deported person.
The figures mean that if the UK sends 300 people to Rwanda, it will cost the taxpayer £490m under the partnership; an extra £6 million in individual payments; plus £45m for processing and operational costs over five years. The total costs would be £541m, which works out as £1.8 million per asylum seeker.
The Home Office has spent £20m setting up the Rwanda scheme, which has survived the tenure of three prime ministers – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Four home secretaries – Priti Patel, Suella Braverman in two separate terms, Grant Shapps and James Cleverly – have overseen the scheme.
Officials expect that £20 million to rise to £28 million by the end of 2023-24, the report said. The Home Office estimates that it will incur further costs between now and the end of the scheme.
