The United Kingdom will not be required to pay Rwanda millions of pounds following the collapse of the asylum partnership, after an international arbitration tribunal ruled in its favour.
Rwanda had pursued a claim of more than £100m, arguing that the UK breached the terms of the agreement after it was terminated by Prime Minister Keir Starmer shortly after taking office.
The arrangement, originally signed under the previous Conservative government, was designed to allow the UK to send asylum seekers who arrived “illegally” in Britain to Rwanda, where their claims would be processed.
During a three-day hearing in the Netherlands, UK lawyers argued it was “entirely logical” that the scheme would be dropped following Labour’s election victory, adding it was “simple common sense” that no further financial obligations should apply.
They also maintained that Britain had not violated any part of the agreement, telling the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague: “Rwanda is not entitled to any of the forms of relief it seeks.”
Reacting to the judgment, a Rwandan government spokesperson said it respected the tribunal’s decision and regarded the matter as closed.
However, it added, “We note that the dissenting and separate opinion by Professor Mohamed Abdel Wahab shows that the issues before the tribunal were complex and open to different legal conclusions, including that the November 2024 exchanges relied on by the UK did not validly change the financial arrangements between the two countries.”
Rwanda’s minister of justice and attorney general, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, had earlier told the court that the country had incurred “significant costs” while preparing for the partnership, accusing the UK of attempting to abandon its obligations.
He also said the UK “did not do Rwanda a courtesy of informing it in advance” that it was scrapping the deal, and that officials only “were left to read about this development in the media”.
The policy, first introduced in 2022 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and later backed by former prime minister Rishi Sunak, was intended as a deterrent against Channel crossings in small boats.
Under the plan, asylum seekers arriving in the UK from “safe” countries such as France would be relocated to Rwanda, where their claims would be processed.
Those granted protection would have been allowed to remain there.
However, the first planned deportation flight in 2022 was halted minutes before departure following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, triggering a long series of legal disputes in UK courts.
The scheme eventually faced repeated legal setbacks before being scrapped entirely.
A later voluntary returns programme introduced in 2024 offered migrants whose claims were rejected up to £3,000 to relocate to Rwanda, but only four people participated.
Labour had pledged during the 2024 election campaign to end the policy, and upon taking office Starmer declared it “dead and buried”.
Responding to the ruling, a UK government spokesperson said it had “robustly” defended its position, adding that it remained focused on border reforms and enforcement.
The spokesperson said the government 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 decision, but said the UK “should not be in the position where such courts have jurisdiction over the decisions made by our sovereign parliament”.
He also argued that Labour “should have never cancelled the Rwanda plan” and linked the decision to rising crossings and asylum claims.
Meanwhile, Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said the scheme had caused “chaos” by delaying decisions and leaving asylum seekers stuck in the system.
He added that “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”.
