The United Kingdom will not have to pay the Rwandan government millions of pounds over a failed migrant deportation scheme set up by Boris Johnson's administration, an international court has ruled.
The East African nation had sued the current UK government for more than £100 million, claiming it was owed after a breach of an agreement. But after a three-day hearing at The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands, judges ruled that the UK was not liable for two years of outstanding costs from the scheme, which was shelved in 2024.
Johnson, then prime minister, sealed a deal in 2022 with Kigali to send to Rwanda all asylum seekers arriving on UK shores after "dangerous or illegal journeys" in small boats or lorries. The scheme hit legal and political obstacles from the start, with the UK Supreme Court eventually ruling it illegal. When Keir Starmer became British prime minister in July 2024, he declared the plan "dead and buried" on his first full day in office, dismissing it as a "gimmick."
During the case, lawyers representing the UK argued it was "entirely logical" the plan would be scrapped when Labour came into power after the 2024 general election and "simple common sense" that no further payments would be due. During the two years before the scheme was scrapped, only four people actually went to Rwanda, all voluntarily, according to the current UK government. About £290 million has been paid to Rwanda, the UK government website says, but Kigali argued in its pre-hearing submissions to the court that two annual payments of £50 million were still outstanding.
According to legal papers, Rwanda asked the court to find the UK in breach of the agreement and demanded it pay all outstanding sums, as well as compensation. Lawyers for the UK denied it had breached parts of the deal and said: "Rwanda is not entitled to any of the forms of relief it seeks" when asking the court to dismiss the claims.
The arbitration court rejected by majority a £50 million claim for one year and unanimously rejected the same amount for the second. A UK government spokesperson said: "The UK robustly defended its position, and the tribunal has now ruled in favour of the UK on all grounds." The two nations are already in dispute after the UK slashed aid to Rwanda, accusing it of supporting M23 rebels in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Source: www.theguardian.com