statement of costs
British Rwanda plans for migrants are getting expensive
The British government wants to discourage migrants entering via the English Channel. photo
© Victoria Jones/PA Wire/dpa
The ancestor is disputed anyway. The figures that have now been published are again causing criticism of the government’s plan.
The cost of the UK government’s plans to provide protection for people seeking asylum Passing on Rwanda is estimated at £169,000 per person. This emerges from a document released by the Home Office in London. This compares to an estimated £106,000 to £165,000 in accommodation costs for people in the UK that could be saved.
The figures provoked new criticism of the controversial project, the legality of which is due to be decided by an appeals court in London on Thursday. Conservative MP Caroline Nokes complained that the government’s plan did not pay off.
deterrence of migrants
It is planned that people who have entered the UK irregularly will in future be deported to the East African country without their asylum application being examined and regardless of their origin. A return is not planned.
London had already concluded a corresponding agreement with the Rwandan government in April last year. A one-off payment of £140 million (€163 million) was initially agreed for this. The now calculated costs come on top of that. The plans are also to be underpinned by the planned “Illegal Migration Bill”, which is to be debated in the House of Lords on Wednesday.
The British government wants to use the measure to deter migrants who enter the English Channel irregularly in small boats. Last year alone, more than 45,000 people came to Great Britain this way. However, there is no evidence that the hoped-for deterrent effect is working. The European Court of Human Rights had stopped the only planned flight to Rwanda last summer with an injunction.