The Slow Newscast
The Rwanda plan: How to waste £700m
Feb 11, 2025
Kat Nealon, a Reporter for Tortoise Media, dives into the controversial Rwanda plan, which saw a staggering £715 million spent with little to show for it. She uncovers the political motivations and implications of this policy on asylum seekers, revealing financial burdens and delays. The discussion highlights internal struggles within the Home Office and the ethical dilemmas faced by civil servants. With legal challenges and public skepticism looming, the bleak reality of this immigration strategy raises pressing questions about its future.
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Quick takeaways
- The Rwanda plan illustrates severe misallocation of taxpayer funds, costing £715 million without facilitating a single successful deportation of asylum seekers.
- Ethical concerns within the Home Office regarding the policy's legality and morality led to unrest among civil servants and declining morale.
Deep dives
Expensive Mismanagement of the Rwanda Policy
The Rwanda policy, which aimed to send asylum seekers who entered the UK illegally to Rwanda for processing, has incurred exorbitant costs totaling £715 million without resulting in any successful deportations. Over the course of its three-year existence and through four different Prime Ministers, the plan has failed to send any individuals to Rwanda, highlighting a significant misallocation of taxpayer funds. The policy's introduction involved an initial payment of £290 million to Rwanda and ongoing operational expenses, but no accountability measures were put in place to ensure successful implementation. As a result, British taxpayers are left with a hefty bill for a program that has yet to deliver any tangible benefits.
