An international court in The Hague has ruled that the United Kingdom does not have to pay Rwanda any of the more than £100m the Rwandan government sought in a lawsuit over the collapsed asylum deal. The Permanent Court of Arbitration delivered its decision after a three-day hearing in the Netherlands, rejecting Rwanda’s claim that the UK breached the terms of the agreement signed by the previous Conservative government.
Rwanda’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, told the court the country had incurred “significant costs” in preparing for the partnership, but the UK “then sought to walk away from its legal obligations.” He also said the UK “did not do Rwanda a courtesy of informing it in advance” that the deal was being scrapped, and that Rwandan leaders were “left to read about this development in the media.”
UK lawyers countered that it was “entirely logical” the plan would be cancelled when Labour won the 2024 general election and came to power, and “simple common sense” that no further payments would be owed. They also denied the UK had breached parts of the deal. “Rwanda is not entitled to any of the forms of relief it seeks,” they told the court.
The asylum deal was first announced in 2022 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It was designed so that asylum seekers arriving in the UK from a safe country, such as France, would be sent to Rwanda and have their claims processed there. If successful, they could be granted refugee status and allowed to stay in Rwanda. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later championed the scheme as a deterrent against illegal Channel crossings in small boats.
The first flight scheduled to depart under the plan in 2022 was grounded minutes before take-off after an intervention from the European Court of Human Rights. That triggered a series of legal challenges in London courts, and the scheme faced repeated legal battles before it was ultimately scrapped. A voluntary removals programme announced in 2024, under which migrants whose claims were rejected were offered up to £3,000 to move to Rwanda, resulted in only four people being voluntarily removed to the country.
Dropping the scheme was one of Labour’s manifesto pledges ahead of the 2024 general election. When Starmer entered Downing Street, he declared the plan “dead and buried.” Responding to the court’s decision, a UK government spokesperson said the government had “robustly” defended its position and was “focused on delivering vital reforms to restore order and control to our borders, including removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and scaling up removals of those with no right to be here.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp welcomed the ruling but said the UK “should not be in the position where such courts have jurisdiction over the decisions made by our sovereign parliament.” He added that Labour “should have never cancelled the Rwanda plan” and argued the decision had led to record Channel crossings and asylum claims.
Imran Hussain, the director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said the Rwanda scheme had caused “chaos” by pausing asylum decisions and leaving people stuck in the system. “The best way to get value for money is to build a fair and functioning asylum system that makes quick, accurate decisions about who can stay and who must return,” Hussain said.