Former immigration minister argues that Rwandan scheme is not worth the money

The government’s plan to send small boat migrants to Rwanda is poor value for money, a former immigration minister said after it was revealed that the cost of deportation will be £169,000 per person.

Caroline Nokes, immigration minister from January 2018 to July 2019, said she was “always concerned” that Rwandan policies were “very hard to justify”.

Ms Nokes, who is the Tory chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, said questions about the cost of the policy were “entirely legitimate”.

Asked if £169,000 per person sounded like value for money, Ms Nokes told Sky News: “No, I don’t think so, and I’ve always been concerned that not only is the Rwanda plan very hard to justify why we should are sending asylum seekers to Rwanda to be processed within the Rwandan asylum system, when we really should have better systems here to do that.

“But the issue of value for money is perfectly legitimate and important and it is worrying when the Interior Ministry themselves say that they cannot be sure that these figures are accurate and that they are all based on the Rwandan plan that acts as a deterrent. and to date we have not seen it as a deterrent.”

An economic analysis from the Home Office published yesterday revealed that deporting a migrant to a “safe country” such as Rwanda will cost taxpayers an estimated £169,000. The analysis found that it costs £106,000 to host and support every migrant in the UK, but suggested the difference could be offset by the deterrent effect of the Rwanda policy.

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