THE GUARDIAN: Home secretary describes Tory policy that Labour has axed as ‘the biggest waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen’
The Conservative government spent £700m of taxpayers’ money on the failed Rwanda deportation scheme, which has proved to be a “costly con”, the home secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper described the policy, which was introduced two-and-a-half years ago and sought to send UK asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, as “the biggest waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”.
She told the Commons that over the course of six years ministers had intended to spend £10bn on the policy, but they never divulged this figure to parliament.
The home secretary said she had formally notified the Rwandan government that the partnership was over and thanked them for working with the UK “in good faith”.
“The failure of this policy lies with the previous UK government, it has been a costly con and the taxpayer has had to pay the price,” she said. (+ video) » | Eleni Courea, Political correspondent | Monday, July 22, 2024
