Sunak had doubts over Rwanda scheme: Report

London, January 6

Rishi Sunak was not entirely convinced about sending illegal migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims were assessed during his time as chancellor, a UK media report claimed on Saturday. The 43-year-old British Indian leader, who has been championing the scheme as PM, had significant doubts over the policy when he was finance minister in former boss Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, the BBC report says based on papers it has seen from two years ago.

Questions raised over wife’s liquidated firm

The UK’s Opposition Labour Party has got into campaigning mode for an expected general election later this year, with advertisements claiming British PM Rishi Sunak is giving the British public a “raw deal” and also raising questions over his wife Akshata Murty’s recently liquidated investment venture.

The documents suggest Sunak was concerned about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the East African country and wanted to limit the numbers initially. A source close to Sunak told the BBC: “The PM was always fully behind the principle of the scheme as a deterrent. As chancellor, it was his job to make sure it delivered and taxpayers’ money was appropriately spent.”

Sunak, who took charge at 10 Downing Street in October 2022, was the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer in No. 11 Downing Street when the Rwanda policy was first announced in April 2022.

The deal with Rwanda has since been caught up in legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent from the UK so far. However, Sunak has stressed that the scheme is a key pillar of his strategy to tackle illegal migration to the UK and will also act as a deterrent to the thousands landing on the country’s shores after making treacherous journeys in small boats across the English Channel.

Now, the BBC’s revelations indicate he was not entirely behind the scheme when it was first mooted. The No. 10 documents were prepared in March 2022 as ex-PM Boris Johnson was trying to persuade Sunak – his chancellor – to sign off on more funding for the plan, the report says. This was shortly before the pact with Rwanda to process migrants was signed.