Rwanda has launched legal action against the United Kingdom after the Labour government scrapped a highly controversial migrant relocation deal first proposed under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The partnership would have seen illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel sent to Rwanda, where they would have been housed in Kigali and offered the chance to claim asylum. Those transferred were due to be taken initially to the Hope Hostel, which publicly declared itself ready to receive migrants in April 2024.
The agreement was abandoned shortly after Labour entered office under Sir Keir Starmer, who dismissed the scheme as an expensive gimmick that failed to deter dangerous crossings. However, the decision has now triggered an international legal dispute that could leave British taxpayers facing a bill of more than fifty million pounds.
The case is being handled by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in the Netherlands. Rwanda is understood to have filed a formal notice of arbitration in November 2025. The country’s justice minister and attorney general, Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, is listed as the representative of the claimants.
At the heart of the dispute is the British government’s alleged failure to formally terminate the agreement in 2024. Rwanda is said to argue that the lack of proper notice meant the UK remained bound by key financial obligations under the deal.
The agreement was originally signed in 2022 by then Home Secretary Priti Patel while Boris Johnson was still Prime Minister. It included a series of staged payments to Rwanda in return for accepting migrants removed from the UK.
Under the terms of the deal, the British government paid £290 million directly to the Rwandan government. A further payment of £50 million was due in April last year and is believed to be central to the current legal wrangling.
Labour scrapped the policy almost immediately after taking office, but critics argue the move was followed by a sharp rise in Channel crossings. Home Office figures show that 36,273 migrants were being housed in full board hotel accommodation at the end of September, all funded by the taxpayer. That figure is up by nearly 7,000 since Labour came to power.
Ministers insist the Rwanda scheme was unworkable and unlawful, while opposition figures say the legal challenge exposes the financial cost of abandoning the deal without a clear exit strategy. As the arbitration process begins, the case threatens to reopen a bitter debate over immigration control, public spending and Britain’s handling of international agreements.
