£290million down the drain? Home Secretary Yvette Cooper brands Rwanda migrant deportation scheme a 'complete con' and suggests Labour will try to claw back cash after scrapping project before it begins
Yvette Cooper branded the Rwanda migrant deportation scheme a 'complete con' today as she hinted Labour would try to recoup some of the £290million spent before it was axed.
The new Home Secretary said she planned to audit the programme to send Channel boat arrivals to east Africa, which was axed by Sir Keir Starmer in one of his first decisions after entering No10.
But almost a third of a billion pounds has already been given to the Kagame government, despite the only migrants to leave Britain being four volunteers.
Questions will be raised over how much can be recouped. But Ms Cooper told LBC radio: 'We are auditing the whole scheme… It has clearly been a complete con.'
It came as more boats crossed from France to be picked up by Border Force today.
The new Home Secretary said she planned to audit the programme to send Channel boat arrivals to east Africa, which was axed by Sir Keir Starmer in one of his first decisions after entering No10.
It came as more boats crossed from France to be picked up by Border Force today.
Questions will be raised over how much can be recouped. But Ms Cooper told LBC radio: 'We are auditing the whole scheme… It has clearly been a complete con.'
Asked if she has had any contact with Rwanda about winding the plan down and getting any money back, Ms Cooper said: 'Well, the Prime Minister has obviously set out the position on the Rwanda scheme where as we know, the Conservatives ran this scheme for two and a half years, and sent simply four volunteers as well as hundreds of millions of pounds.'
She said her 'key priority' as incoming Home Secretary is to 'strengthen Britain's border security, where I think we have been let down for too long'.
Last night it was announced that counter-terrorism-style laws to combat the Channel crisis are being drawn up.
The Home Office promised 'early legislation', suggesting a new Bill will be contained in the King's Speech later this month.
However, the Government has still not disclosed what the counter-terrorism powers will involve, or fully explained how they will help fill the vacuum left by the scrapped Rwanda asylum scheme.
It is not yet known whether MI5, MI6 and GCHQ will be directly involved in small-boat investigations.
The announcement came as Sir Tony Blair warned the new Labour government it must draw up a 'plan to control immigration' to see off the 'challenge' of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Ms Cooper today launched the hunt for an 'exceptional leader' to head up her new Border Security Command.
The Prime minister's spokesman admitted the summer will be 'challenging' for the Government as small boat crossings continue, with the Rwanda scheme 'dead and buried'.
Asked if those arriving by small boats would now have the right to claim asylum, the Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'We need to ensure that people who arrive here are processed so that people are not sitting in the system, housed in expensive taxpayer-funded hotels as they have been under previous administrations.'
