Organizations such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees argued that the policy was in contravention to international refugee laws, under the UN Refugee Convention of 1951, of which the UK was one of the original signatories. The scheme’s deterrent effect on undocumented migration also remains unclear.

Why did Starmer scrap the plan?

One of the first policy decisions that Starmer made after entering office was to scrap the Rwanda plan — as he said on day one of his prime ministership, the Rwanda plan is “dead and buried”. Foremost among Starmer’s criticisms of the Rwanda plan was that it was both expensive and ineffective, and failed to tackle the problem of illegal immigration.

The new Labor government has said it intends to allocate the funds previously set aside for the Rwanda plan towards the recruitment of specialized investigators to combat human smuggling. Notably, a multi-agency Border Security Command will be established to improve coordination and intelligence sharing when it comes to human smuggling. The government will also work towards expediting asylum claims so as to ensure a swift return of migrants from “safe countries”.

In recent years, the UK has seen a sharp rise in the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country through fraudulent means, most notably, on small boats. According to data from the UK Home Office, some 11,247 undocumented immigrants were detected crossing into the UK by small boat until June this year, an over 20% increase from the same period, in the last year. There were a total of 30,653 small boat arrivals detected in 2023, and a record 45,755 detected in 2022.

How has Rwanda reacted to the plan being scrapped?

According to the BBC, the Conservative government had already sent a sum of 220 million pounds by the end of 2023 as operational expenses to the landlocked country in Africa. Rwanda was to receive more funding in time, as the scheme took off.

The new Labor government has been looking at ways it can recoup some of this money, but Rwanda has refused to pay a “refund”.

“We have completed our obligations under the agreement by preparing for the arrival of migrants. The decision to terminate the plan was solely the UK’s responsibility, therefore, we are not bound to return the funds,” Rwanda government spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda told the media. He said that there was no clause in the agreement signed between the UK and Rwanda on the possibility of refund if no migrants were deported.

Officials from the African country have said that the funds were used for the construction of housing units in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, among other operational expenses. The scrapping of the plan has led to these housing units sold to local buyers as “affordable housing”. In fact, these high quality housing units were being sold off well before the July elections in the UK.

“Currently we’ve sold almost 70 percent of affordable homes. We are left with some units. Electricity is connected to the houses. Water and fiber optic are connected to the houses. The roads and street lights are done,” Hassan Adan Hassan, the managing director of the company behind the development, told The Times in April.

Some Rwandans, however, have expressed concern regarding the scrapping of the UK’s plan. Many workers, who have been directly involved in the construction and maintenance of the UK-funded infrastructure, and were hopeful for further developments in this regard, fear a loss of livelihood, and a backsliding into poverty.

The author is an intern with The Indian Express