Starmer has scrapped Sunak’s Rwanda plan, will Kigali return $307 mn to London?

In April 2022, the Rishi Sunak government of the United Kingdom said that any asylum seeker from a safe country such as France entering the country “illegally” after January 1 of that year, would be sent to Rwanda. The landlocked east-central African country was recognised as a “safe” country in the law, enacted finally in April 2024.

Rwanda was to be compensated by the UK for accommodating asylum seekers. The Sunak government, in fact, paid $307 million to the Rwanda government under this scheme.  

There were over 52,000 asylum seekers in the UK when the Sunak government brought the law and signed an agreement with Rwanda. Close to 30,000 more asylum seekers entered the UK illegally in 2023 and the number of such people this year by June was over 11,000. They all faced the possibility of being deported to Rwanda, which was to process their asylum claims rather than the UK.

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Keir Starmer, then the opposition leader and now the UK prime minister, had said back then that if elected to govern, he would scrap the scheme. He has done that.

The authorities had begun detaining asylum seekers in May, with then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak championing the policy to halt migrants arriving on small boats from mainland Europe.

But on Saturday, Starmer declared that the deportation plan devised by the preceding Conservative government to send asylum seekers to the East African nation, was “dead and buried”. The controversial scheme had been mired in legal battles in the UK, preventing its implementation.

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Will Rwanda pay the money back?

In January this year after Sunak brought the bill to the UK parliament, Rwanda President Paul Kagame said that the money given by the Sunak government to the UK  was “only going to be used if those people will come. If they don’t come, we can return the money”.

However, he later specified there was “no obligation” to do so. His explanation has now become the official statement of the Rwanda government.

Despite the Sunak government’s repeated attempts, the flight to Rwanda with targeted asylum seekers for removal from the country could never take off from the UK. Multiple court cases saw flights being delayed and cancelled.

Now, on Tuesday, the Rwandan government clarified that the scrapped multi-million pound migrant deal with Britain, annulled by the newly elected Labour government over the weekend, contained no provisions for repaying funds already transferred.  

Rwanda’s deputy government spokesperson, Alain Mukuralinda, confirmed on state television that the agreement lacked any clause necessitating the repayment of funds. “Let this be clear, paying back the money was never part of the agreement,” Mukuralinda stated. He elaborated that the UK had initiated the partnership request, which was extensively negotiated, and the agreement had even been amended following court rulings.

The multiple issues with the Rwanda plan

The scheme faced numerous legal challenges, with the UK Supreme Court ruling that it contravened international law. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had enacted legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country, overcoming one significant legal hurdle despite concerns regarding human rights laws.

The Labour Party pledged to scrap the scheme prior to the July 4 election, a commitment they honoured following their landslide victory. In his first press conference, Starmer firmly announced the scheme’s termination, stating, “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent.”

Starmer criticised Sunak’s policy as neither a deterrent nor cost-effective, vowing instead to tackle the issue by dismantling the people-smuggling networks responsible for the Channel crossings.  

Earlier on Tuesday, three asylum seekers who had legally challenged the UK’s attempt to deport them to Rwanda saw their cases resolved.

Immigration has surged as a pivotal political issue since the UK’s departure from the European Union in 2020, driven largely by promises to regain control of national borders. Rwanda, home to 13 million people in Africa’s Great Lakes region, is frequently lauded for its modern infrastructure and stability, yet rights groups accuse Kagame’s government of suppressing dissent and free speech.

A serious issue mired in politics?

Critics of Sunak’s government had condemned the plan as inhumane, arguing that it exposed asylum seekers to the risk of being returned to countries where they might face danger. Nonetheless, Sunak had staunchly defended the policy, asserting in April, “No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda.”

The issue of asylum seekers has been exacerbated by the arrival of tens of thousands of individuals fleeing conflicts and poverty in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, who have reached Britain via perilous Channel crossings organised by people-smuggling gangs.  

Starmer highlighted the scheme’s ineffectiveness, noting, “Everyone has worked out, particularly the gangs that run this, that the chance of ever going to Rwanda was so slim – less than 1 per cent.”

Sonya Sceats, chief executive of Freedom from Torture, hailed Starmer’s announcement as a significant victory for campaigners, refugees, and legal advocates opposing the scheme.  

Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, had also urged the Labour government to fulfil its promise to abolish the Rwanda pact, stressing the need for an asylum system that delivers security and certainty to all refugees.

What next?

Starmer’s decision to halt the deportation policy has been welcomed by rights advocates, who view it as a long-overdue move. He dismissed the plan as a problematic inheritance from the previous government and pledged not to perpetuate ineffective measures. This explains what his government’s approach will be in dealing with the issue.

Conservative hardliner Suella Braverman, however, criticised Starmer’s decision, warning of future problems stemming from the scheme’s cancellation. The Labour government now faces the challenge of devising alternative solutions to the migration crisis, a task emphasised by political analysts and rights activists alike, who call for global cooperation to address forced migration effectively.

In response to the UK’s decision to terminate the Migration and Economic Development Partnership Agreement, Rwanda’s statement described the UK’s stance as “its problem, not Rwanda’s”. The statement emphasised that Rwanda had fulfilled its part of the agreement, including financial aspects, and remained committed to contributing to global migration solutions.

This means that the UK might have lost $307 million for the care of deported asylum seekers it could not board on a flight from London to Kigali.