Labour has been accused of disrespecting a Commonwealth ally and the British taxpayer after Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap a multi-million pound plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Rwanda has said it has “no obligation” to “repay” the £270 million the UK paid to fund the project.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly wrote to his successor, Yvette Cooper, asking: “Can you confirm that you decided to cancel the partnership without receiving assurances from Rwanda that it would repay the money?”
He also wants to know how many charter flights to Rwanda have been cancelled and what impact advisers say the removal of this “deterrent” will have on small boat crossings.
A Conservative source said: “Labour and the left have a history of denigrating Rwanda in a way that borders on disapproval – and they have clearly carried that attitude into government. Building international partnerships with allies like Rwanda and other Commonwealth countries will be essential to tackling the global challenge of migration.”
“But Labour clearly has as little regard for that as it does for the British taxpayer.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said last week that the Rwanda project was “dead and buried before it even started”.
A Labour spokeswoman turned her back on the former Home Secretary, saying: “The fact that James Cleverly is suddenly interested in value for money for the taxpayer is a joke – this is more about his bid for the Conservative leadership than the security of Britain’s borders. The Tories have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on a programme that sent four volunteers over two years.”
“Meanwhile, record numbers of people crossed the Channel in the first half of this year. We will not apologise for not spending money wisely.
“We will not continue to waste hard-working British taxpayers’ money on a failed plan. Instead, we will invest in strengthening UK border security, with work already underway to establish a new Border Security Command to track down the criminal people-smuggling gangs who make millions by undermining the security of our borders and putting lives at risk.”
