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Rishi Sunak’s government is facing fresh questions over the cost of its troubled plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after a top civil servant revealed that London has paid Kigali an extra £100mn this year.
Two influential groups of MPs have summoned Sir Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, to provide further explanation after he disclosed in a letter on Thursday night that Rwanda was paid £100mn in April.
The funds come on top of £140mn already provided as downpayment towards the removal scheme last year, underscoring how much financial and political capital the prime minister has invested in the controversial policy.
Both the Rwandan government and Home Office confirmed on Friday that the payment had been scheduled as part of the original agreement between the two countries in April 2022.
MPs now want to know why the full costs were not disclosed earlier, and why additional payments have been made when the scheme has yet to get off the ground.
“This looks like a much larger commitment and to fund what exactly?” asked Dame Diana Johnson, chair of the House of Commons home affairs select committee.
The UK is expected to make another £50mn payment next year, which would raise the overall cost to £290mn.
“One of the things we said when we looked at the Rwanda policy last year is there is no evidence it is going to deliver as a policy, and no good evidence that it was value for money,” Johnson added. Together with the Commons public accounts committee, her group has asked Rycroft to answer questions on Monday.
Tom Pursglove, one of two new immigration ministers, said the payments should be seen in the context of the £8mn the government is spending each day to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels, and as part of efforts ultimately to bring down costs.
“I think it is the right investment to get into a much more sustainable position as part of our overall package addressing the Channel crossings,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
The government hopes that removing some asylum seekers to Rwanda will help to deter others from entering the UK by irregular means, and begin to reduce the number of people making the journey in small boats across the Channel.
The policy was last month ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court, which said asylum seekers sent to Rwanda would be at real risk of being repatriated to their countries of origin without proper consideration of their claims.
Sunak is set to spend the weekend rallying restive Conservative MPs behind “emergency” legislation to rescue it ahead of a crucial test of his authority on Tuesday when MPs vote on the bill.
Rumours have swirled around Westminster about letters of no confidence in Sunak being submitted and the potential appetite among right-wing MPs for a fresh leadership contest ahead of an election expected next year.
On Thursday, Tory chair Richard Holden said a leadership contest would be “insanity”. The Conservatives have changed leader twice since they won the 2019 election.
The opposition Labour party is expected to put forward a so-called reasoned amendment to the bill in coming days, offering key reasons why MPs should reject it. If 29 Tory MPs vote against the bill alongside opposition party MPs, Sunak’s government would be defeated.
If MPs approve the bill, which declares Rwanda a “safe country” for asylum seekers, it would need to pass further parliamentary votes before becoming law.
In his letter to MPs, Rycroft, said the UK had paid £220mn into an Economic Transformation and Integration Fund to support Rwanda’s economic development and growth.
Earlier this month he riled MPs by declining to answer questions on the total cost of the scheme, saying the information was “commercially sensitive” and would only be disclosed in end of year accounts.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the rise in costs of the Rwanda scheme were “just incredible”.
“The Tories’ have wasted an astronomical £290mn of taxpayers’ money on a failing scheme which hasn’t sent a single asylum seeker to Rwanda,” she said. “How many more blank cheques will Rishi Sunak write before the Tories come clean about this scheme being a total farce?”
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