UK wins court case over collapsed Rwanda asylum deal

New Delhi ( Vivek Ojha ) : The UK will not have to pay Rwanda millions of pounds over the collapsed asylum agreement that was cancelled by Keir Starmer shortly after he took office, an international court has ruled.

The Rwandan government had sought to sue the UK for more than £100m, saying it had breached the terms of the deal. Signed by the previous Conservative government, it was meant to see the UK pay Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in the UK.

Lawyers representing the UK during the three-day hearing in the Netherlands had argued that it was “entirely logical” the plan would be scrapped when Labour came to power and “simple common sense” that no further payments would be due. They also denied the UK breached parts of the deal. “Rwanda is not entitled to any of the forms of relief it seeks,” they told the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced the scheme as a deterrent to those looking to illegally cross the English Channel in small boats. The plan had first been announced in 2022 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson. It was designed so that asylum seekers arriving in the UK “illegally” from a safe country, such as France, would be sent to Rwanda and have their claims processed there.