Capital Economy, Business and Finance
More than £700 million in public funds was spent on the scrapped Rwanda scheme, the Home Office has revealed.
Over a two-year partnership, the UK government sent just four volunteers to the east African nation. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the scheme, presided over by her Conservative predecessors, “a grotesque waste of money”.
The breakdown of direct costs includes £50 million on flights, £95 million on detention and reception centres, £290 million in payments to Rwanda’s government, and £280 million in fixed costs to develop IT systems and fight legal battles.
The total doesn’t account for wider costs faced by the UK asylum system due to the scheme, for example the increased use of hotels to house asylum seekers and staffing for the backlog in claims.
