A Home Office minister could not show calculations to prove the Government's controversial Rwanda scheme will make a "significant" impact in curbing Channel crossings - as taxpayers are set to be slapped with eye-watering costs to fund the policy.
Tom Pursglove told the Home Affairs Committee the cost to process an individual asylum case in Rwanda would be "akin" to the case rate of £12,000 per individual in the UK.
He insisted the scheme will not be a "panacea" to Channel crossings, and would only make a difference in the long term.
But when asked by the Home Affairs Committee what modelling was used to give the "evidence base for this decision", Mr Pursglove said: "This is a new and untested policy at this point in time.
"I do think that in the fullness of time we will see this policy, as part of a wider package that we are introducing, really shift the dynamic."
He later added: "I think it is only logical to assert that if you cut off the business model of these evil criminal gangs, then that will materially make a difference in terms of people making these crossings."
Officials had reportedly learned from internal modelling that only 300 asylum seekers a year could be sent to Rwanda, according to reports.
The Home Office later said it did not recognise the figure and there was no cap on the number of people who could be sent to the East African country.
The first asylum seekers will be flown to the East African nation this week under the latest deportation agreement.
Migrants who crossed the Channel in small boats are among those who will be notified that they face a one-way ticket to Rwanda, the department said, with first flights expected “in the coming months”.
Mr Pursglove said decisions to relocate people to Kigali would be taken on a “case by case basis” to ensure it was safe and appropriate for them to be sent there.
The British Red Cross and the Refugee Council had earlier warned they were hearing accounts of some asylum seekers in Britain going into hiding because they fear being sent to Rwanda, as well as deciding not to claim health support amid concerns the NHS could pass their details to the Home Office.
Lone child migrants who have arrived in the UK will be exempt from the policy, the Home Office has already confirmed.
The Home Office is facing six legal challenges to the policy. Mr Pursglove described all of them as "baseless" and "without merit".
In a letter to the department from the Leigh Day legal team, solicitors noted the charity Freedom from Torture had "serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy."
