The Government was on Tuesday accused of “sloppiness”, with the legal action allegedly being triggered after officials failed to formally terminate the scheme.
Labour scrapped the Rwanda scheme on its first day in office (Image: Getty)
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 pick up a “huge bill” after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the agreement with Kigali on his first day in office.
The Government was on Tuesday accused of “sloppiness”, with the legal action allegedly being triggered after officials failed to formally terminate the scheme.
The claim, lodged through the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, alleges that Rwanda was prepared to forego the £50million payment because the new Government wanted to scrap the scheme – but Labour failed to terminate the agreement with the country.
Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster said: “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 said: “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 more than £700m on the Rwanda scheme.
And Kigali last year demanded £50m that was due in April 2025.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed to hand the Rwandan Government money in stages.
In all, £290million was paid directly to the Rwandan government under the deal.
A Government spokesman said: “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.”
