Rwanda is suing Britain after Labour abandoned the former government’s asylum deal with the country.
The decision to abandon the plan was one of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts in office, just days before the first plane was due to leave the UK for Kigali.
This came after a dramatic 11th hour intervention from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which found the policy to be unlawful under the Human Rights Act.
This would have meant that its continuation would have left those subject to the deal vulnerable to human rights violations, rights guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights, and erode the UK’s commitment to international treaties.
In response to the deal’s failure, the East African state has initiated legal action, which may result in taxpayers being billed more than £50 million. The legal battle is being handled by the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
It is understood that the legal dispute is centred around the UK Government’s alleged failure to formally terminate the agreement in 2024.
The scheme had already cost the UK taxpayer £715 million, according to Home Office figures. Last year, the Rwandan government reportedly demanded an additional £50million for the aborted scheme.
The original terms of the deal, when signed by former home secretary Priti Patel in 2022, laid out that the UK would make several staged payments to Rwanda.
The total sum paid to the Rwandan government under the deal was £290million in total. The government was due to pay a further £50million in April last year, and this sum is thought to be at the core of the current legal battle.
In November, Rwanda lodged a 'notice of arbitration' with the Hague-based court, the Mail revealed.
The papers indicated that Rwanda has named the country's minister of justice and attorney general, Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, as the “representative of the claimants”, and instructed Lord Verdirame KC, a crossbench peer, of the Twenty Essex barristers' chambers in London.
The papers also listed Dan Hobbs, the Home Office director for migration and borders, as a representative for the case, and the Home Office has instructed Ben Juratowitch of Essex Court Chambers.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Mail that the lawsuit was “yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour's decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme”.
A spokesperson for the government said: “We will robustly fight this in the courts to protect British taxpayers.
“The previous government's Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money.”
