After becoming PM, Rishi Sunak had made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities.
The UK government suffered a legal setback after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that its Rwanda policy is unlawful. The government had contended that it needs the policy to tackle small boats that bring with asylum seekers to its shores. After the ruling, the policy cannot be implemented in its current form. Several UK outlets had called the hearing crucial for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before an election expected next year. But within hours of the judgment, Mr Sunak said the government would work on a “new treaty”.
What is Britain’s Rwanda plan?
Under the plan, the UK government intended to send thousands of asylum seekers who arrived in small boats and dinghies without permission to Rwanda.
It was designed to deter asylum seekers from making the dangerous journey of about 32 km across the English Channel from Europe.
The deal was struck in April 2022 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson keeping in view the large number of migrants reaching the UK illegally. According to government figures, a record 45,775 people were detected arriving without permission in Britain last year. In 2023, more than 27,000 have arrived on small boats so far.
The government planned to deport such people to Rwanda for an assessment to their claims. The scheme was supposed to be implemented on a five-year trial.
Legal challenge to the scheme
The first deportation flight in June 2022 was blocked by a last-minute injunction from the European Court of Human Rights, barring any removals until the conclusion of legal action in Britain.
The UK had already paid 140 million British pounds (Rs 1,442 crore) to Rwanda government when the flights were prevented from taking off, the BBC said in a report.
However, it did not set an overall cost for the scheme.
Did government decided on a number to be sent to Rwanda?
The BBC report said there was no fixed number in the now-scrapped plan. The UK government had only announced that “anyone entering the UK illegally” after January 1, 2022, could be sent, with no limit on numbers.
Under the deal, Rwanda could have asked the UK to take in some of its vulnerable refugees.
Why the Rwanda plan is important for Rishi Sunak?
After becoming the Prime Minister last year, he had made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities.
The Rwanda plan would have helped the country financially since it spends more than 3 billion pounds a year on dealing with asylum applications. According to news agency Reuters, the cost of housing migrants in hotels and other accommodation while their claims are processed running at about 6 million pounds a day.
The government will now upgrade the agreement between the UK and Rwanda from its current status as a “memorandum of understanding”, which the government believes would put the arrangement on a stronger legal footing.
