A top lawyer has warned that taxpayers could be left footing a bill running into the millions after the Government failed to formally terminate the scrapped Rwanda asylum scheme.
Speaking on GB News, the legal expert said £290million of public money had already been paid to Rwanda under the agreement, with a further £50million now being claimed after officials allegedly failed to give formal notice ending the deal.
Fadi Farhat explained that the dispute with Rwanda hinges on whether proper diplomatic procedures were followed when Labour abandoned the asylum scheme.
Mr Farhat said: “The UK Government scrapped the scheme internally within Parliament and its own systems but Rwanda’s position is that no formal diplomatic letter was ever sent.”
The east African nation maintains it was never officially notified of the termination, despite the policy being widely reported in British media.
“Rwanda may have a point, depending on the wording of the treaty,” Mr Farhat noted, adding that the “country cannot be expected to monitor UK news coverage for official Government decisions.”
GB News host Tom Harwood said: “It’s not just the 50 million that may or may not go to Rwanda.
“It’s the millions upon millions and millions of pounds that will go to the quite well-heeled lawyers and all of the work that will be done now over the next few months, just because the Foreign Office was so incompetent as to not send a letter to Rwanda to say we are terminating the scheme.
“I thought the Foreign Office was supposed to be the sort of creme de la creme of international diplomacy.”
He added: “Clearly not. The UK Supreme Court ruled the scheme unlawful under international law, a position echoed by UN bodies.
“Under Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, any agreement that conflicts with international law is void meaning no further payments would be owed.
Fadi Farhat explained that the dispute with Rwanda hinges on whether proper diplomatic procedures were followed when Labour abandoned the asylum scheme
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GB NEWS
“That argument could be considered by the arbitration court, which does subscribe to international law.
“The court could conclude that Rwanda has already received £290million and is not entitled to the additional £50million.
“That said, none of this would be necessary had the Government simply sent a formal termination notice.
Instead, taxpayers now face millions of pounds in legal costs, all because the Foreign Office failed to carry out what should have been a basic diplomatic step.
“For a policy of this scale, particularly following a change of Government, you would expect every detail to have been checked. Clearly, that did not happen.”
Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme to establish the Border Security Command | GETTY
Rwanda has now launched legal proceedings against Britain, seeking £50 million following the Government’s decision to abandon the deportation agreement.
The claim has been filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, with proceedings initiated in November through a formal notice of arbitration.
Court documents identify Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, Rwanda’s minister of justice and attorney general, as representing the claimants.
The African nation has engaged Lord Verdirame KC, a crossbench peer from Twenty Essex chambers, to handle its case.
On the British side, Dan Hobbs, the Home Office’s director for migration and borders, is named as a representative, with the department instructing Ben Juratowitch of Essex Court Chambers.
Rwanda’s position is that it had agreed to waive the payment when Labour announced the scheme’s cancellation, but claims the UK never formally terminated the treaty, leaving the debt outstanding.
The abandoned scheme has already cost British taxpayers approximately £700million, according to Home Office figures.
This sum comprises £290million transferred directly to the Rwandan government, alongside expenses for charter flights that never departed, the detention and subsequent release of hundreds of individuals, and salaries for over 1,000 civil servants assigned to the project.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the legal action “yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme.”
He added: “The deal was ready to see the first flights take off, and ditching it was a borderline act of treachery.
“This legal action means the British taxpayer is now facing a huge bill for Labour’s incompetence Labour was too weak to see this crucial policy through, and it’s the British taxpayer who is left to pick up the pieces.”
A Government spokesman responded: “The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money. We will robustly fight this in the courts to protect British taxpayers.”