British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room, in London, UK, 7 December 2023;
Credit: James Manning/Pool via Reuters
(Reuters) - The United Kingdom paid Rwanda an additional £100 million pounds (approx. €117 million) in April 2023, on top of the £140 million that was already paid last year, according to the Home Office, even before any asylum seekers have been deported to the country.
The payment that had not previously been disclosed was agreed in April this year under a fund for the economic development and growth of Rwanda, the Home Office said in a statement on Thursday 7 December 2023.
The British government added that it anticipates an additional payment of £50 million next year to Rwanda as part of the same fund.
The UK has not paid any more to Rwanda up until now and the payment is entirely separate to the treaty signed on Tuesday 5 December 2023 to revive a government plan to deport asylum seekers to the East African country.
The new treaty seeks to overcome a decision by Britain's Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the deportation scheme - at the centre of the British government's strategy to deter illegal immigration - would violate international human rights laws enshrined in domestic legislation.
Rwanda did not ask for any payment in order for the new treaty to be signed nor was any offered, the Home Office statement said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appealed to his Conservative lawmakers on Thursday to unite behind his Rwanda plan after a revolt that exposed deep divisions in his party.
His immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, resigned on Wednesday 6 December 2023, saying that the government's published draft emergency legislation aimed at getting its Rwandan migrant deportation scheme up and running did not go far enough.
Sunak is also facing questions as to whether he can get his key policy through a vote in parliament.
