The taxpayer will have to pick up the tab for James Cleverly’s £160,000 one-night trip to Rwanda as the government battles to save its failing deportation plan.
The home secretary visited Kigali on December 4th according to official transparency data published on Thursday night.
It shows that private charter flights for the visit cost taxpayers £165,561.53 alone, with accommodation and other expenses likely to make the overall cost much higher.
Labour Home Office minister Stephen Kinnock said: “Having clearly decided that committing £600 million of taxpayers money to the Rwandan Government for just 300 refugees wasn’t insulting enough, the Home Secretary decided to blow £165,000 on a flight to sign off on the hare-brained scheme.
“This Government’s enthusiasm for wasting taxpayers’ money knows no bounds. Labour would redirect the cash set aside for Rwanda into a cross-border police unit and security partnership to smash the criminal smuggler gangs at source, and introduce a new Returns unit to quickly remove those with no right to be here.”
Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill was hit by a fresh delay on Wednesday after suffering a string of defeats in the House of Lords and will now not return to the Commons until after Easter.
Number 10 declared a ‘migration emergency’ after a record day for crossings in 2024.
More than 4,000 people are thought to have crossed the English Channel so far this year, according to Home Office figures, with 514 people making the journey in 10 boats on Wednesday.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Stopping the boats is one of our top priorities. The cost of the asylum system could reach up to £11billion per year by 2026, and we make no apologies for pursuing bold solutions like our partnership with Rwanda to stop the boats and save lives. All government spend goes through thorough due diligence to ensure best value for money.”
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