The newly named British minister responsible for handling immigration has said that the contentious proposal to transport applicants for asylum back to Rwanda, which was funded by the prior Conservative administration, cost nearly 900 million dollars.
Only four people took up the offer.
The Labour interior minister has accused the outgoing Conservative government of trying to conceal its $13 billion expenditure on a now-decayed plan to ship out asylum seekers. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government killed the plan after their recent electoral triumph.
According to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s testimony before parliament, the taxpayers have already forked out 700 million pounds for various purposes, including canceled charter flights, payouts to the Rwandan government, and many hours of work by civil staff.
She said that in the two weeks since she was appointed home secretary, she had examined the policies, initiatives, and laws and found an alarming misallocation of public funds.
In 2022, the United Kingdom and Rwanda reached an agreement that would allow stowaways or individuals arriving on boats who illegally enter the UK to be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum cases heard. The plan was designed to prevent more illegal aliens from entering the United Kingdom, based on their understanding that they would be immediately deported to Rwanda.
Before Starmer took office, no planes to Rwanda were ever allowed to take off because the plan was challenged repeatedly in the courts. Only four individuals were willingly deported to Rwanda.
In parliament, Cooper was accused of using made-up figures by James Cleverly, a former Conservative home secretary.
The administration has promised to finally process the cases of the thousands of asylum applicants who have been left hanging and threatened with deportation. Additionally, the administration plans to roll back a section of the Illegal Migration Act that has prevented the asylum of anybody who has arrived illegally since March of 2023.
The defeated Conservatives of Britain have declared that they would take almost three months to choose a new party leader to succeed Rishi Sunak, the country’s former prime minister. Until November 2nd, when his replacement is named, Sunak will continue to serve as interim head.
