Labour accused of splurging cash already over true cost of scrapping Rwanda scheme
James Cleverly asks if it was axed before getting assurances Rwanda would "repay the money".
Labour has been accused of showing a lack of respect to a Commonwealth ally and the British taxpayer following Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap the multi-million pound plan to send asylum seekers to the Rwanda.
Rwanda has said it has “no obligation” to provide a “refund” on the £270million paid by the UK to fund the scheme.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly has written to his successor, Yvette Cooper, asking: “Can you confirm that you decided to cancel the partnership without receiving assurances from Rwanda that they would repay the money?”
He also wants to know how many charter flights to Rwanda have been axed and what impact advisers say the removal of this “deterrent” will have on small boat crossings.
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A Conservative source said: “Labour and the Left have always been disparaging about Rwanda in a way that borders on derogatory – and they’ve clearly taken that attitude into Government. Building international partnerships with allies like Rwanda and others in the Commonwealth will be vital to handling the global challenge of migration.
“But Labour clearly have as little regard for that as they do the British taxpayer.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week said the Rwanda scheme was “dead and buried before it started”.
A Labour spokeswoman turned her guns on the former Home Secretary, saying: “For James Cleverly to suddenly be interested in value for money for the taxpayer is a joke - this is more about his bid for the Conservative leadership than Britain’s border security. The Tories wasted hundreds of millions on a scheme that sent four volunteers over two years.
“Meanwhile record numbers of people crossed the Channel in the first half of this year. We won’t apologise for not spending good money after bad.
“We will not continue to waste the money of the hard working British taxpayer on a failed plan. Instead, we will invest in boosting Britain’s border security, with work already underway to set up a new Border Security Command to go after the criminal smuggling gangs making millions by undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.”
