Sunak accused of Rwanda ‘con’ as leaks suggest PM wanted to scale back plan

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “conning” the public over the Rwanda deal, after leaked documents suggest he had significant doubts about the plan as Chancellor and wanted to scale it back.

Mr Sunak forced then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scale back the Rwanda policy in 2022, over concerns about the high costs and doubts about whether it would be an effective deterrent for small boats, according to leaked documents cited by the BBC and The Times.

Since becoming Prime Minister in October 2022, Mr Sunak has made the Rwanda deal his Government’s flagship migration policy, and made “stopping the boats” one of his five pledges to the British public.

Mr Sunak has repeatedly reinforced his commitment to the scheme and pledged to realise it, despite the UK’s Supreme Court finding it was unlawful last year.

But the leaked documents reveal that Mr Sunak believed that a “deterrent won’t work” and tried to force then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lower the number of migrants eligible to be sent to Rwanda.

It comes after now Home Secretary, James Cleverly, failed to deny privately calling the scheme “batshit”.

No10 and No11 clashed over effectiveness of Rwanda scheme

New documents show that Mr Johnson and then-Home Secretary, Priti Patel, wanted to send 1,500 migrants to Rwanda in the first year of the scheme, but Mr Sunak agreed to sign off on just 500 in a bid to lower costs.

He also reduced the capacity in the second and third years of the scheme, when Mr Johnson and Ms Patel wanted to expand it to 5,000 annually according to the Times.

No10 suggested that Mr Sunak should be told to “consider his popularity with the base” if he was unwilling to support the Rwanda scheme and other changes to the immigration system.

The documents also suggest Mr Sunak was reluctant to fund reception centres to accommodate asylum seekers arriving in Dover, instead preferring to use hotels because they were “cheaper”.

The bill for asylum seeker hotels now stands at around £8m per day.

What is the Rwanda scheme?

The Rwanda deal was unveiled in April 2022 by Mr Johnson, who argued that it would act as a deterrent to prevent people from crossing the Channel in small boats.

Under the deal, those who arrive in the UK by small boats or other irregular channels would not be allowed to claim asylum in the UK, and would instead be sent to Rwanda to make an asylum claim there.

Should their claim be accepted, with the individual found to be legitimately fleeing persecution and exercising their right to live safely elsewhere, they would be resettled in Rwanda. They would not be able to return to the UK.

Has it started?

No one has been sent to Rwanda under the scheme as yet, with the deal bogged down in legal battles in the UK.

The first flight to Rwanda made it to the tarmac, but was grounded at the last minute after a flurry of eleventh hour legal challenges.

In November, the British Supreme Court ruled that the policy was unlawful.

This was because the UK Government could not guarantee that asylum seekers would have their claims heard properly due to failings Rwanda’s asylum processing system.

Judges ruled that this meant the asylum seekers could be at risk of being wrongfully returned to their home country and facing persecution, thus making Rwanda unsafe for them.

But the Government has continued to push on with the scheme, successfully passing a bill through Parliament to pave the way for it to be kickstarted.

How much does it cost?

The scheme has reportedly ballooned to nearly £300m despite no asylum seekers being deported there so far.

The cost of the Rwanda scheme has long been contentious, with MPs on the Public Affairs Committee criticising the Government for a lack of transparency over the price.

Documents show Rwanda deal is a ‘con’

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the leaked documents show the Rwanda deal was a “con”.

“The prime minister knew the plan was incredibly costly and wouldn’t work, and resisted it while he was chancellor. But he is so weak he has now agreed to write cheques to Rwanda for £400m without sending a single person there in a desperate attempt to shore up his leadership,” she said.

Ms Cooper accused the Government of “continually going for gimmicks rather than ever getting a grip.”

Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, described the Rwanda scheme as an “awful cash-for-humans deal” which was “morally and legally wrong”, and warned it “won’t stop people risking their lives to reach the UK to claim asylum.”

“Deterrence won’t work because a tiny percentage of the world’s refugees come to the UK for reasons that we can all understand – to be with loved ones or because they speak English,” he said.

“We hope the PM and the Home Secretary find the courage to follow their original assessment of the deal and scrap this awful deportation strategy and all legislation that supports it.”

Responding to reports by the BBC and The Times, a government source said: “As chancellor, Rishi funded the Rwanda scheme and put it at the heart of his 10-point plan the month after becoming PM.

“Now he is passing the Rwanda Bill following the Supreme Court judgment to get flights off the ground. He is the first prime minster ever to oversee a reduction in small boat crossings, which were down by 36 per cent last year.”

The Home Office and No10 were approached for comment.