Rishi Sunak doubted Rwanda plan, papers suggest

NEW DELHI: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seemed to have doubts about sending migrants to Rwanda when he was chancellor.
According to the BBC citing a document that suggests Sunak wanted to scale back No 10's original plans and was reluctant to fund the reception centers to accommodate migrants and believed that one should use hotels or private housing as they are "cheaper".
According to the report, the No 10 papers are from March 2022, one month before the plan was announced by Boris Johnson. This was shortly before the deal with Rwanda to process migrants was signed.
As prime minister, Sunak has prioritised the Rwanda plan due to pressure from his party. The plan, which was first unveiled by former prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022, requires the prime minister to send the asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and maybe resettlement to discourage individuals from attempting the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats.
The prime minister - who became prime minister in October 2022 - was Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Rwanda policy was announced.
The deal has been repeatedly delayed by legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent from the UK so far, reported BBC.
They suggest Sunak was concerned about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the African country, and wanted to limit the numbers initially.
They say, the "chancellor wants to pursue smaller volumes initially, 500 instead of 1,500" in the first year, and "3,000 instead of 5,000 in years two and three".
The exact numbers in the eventual plan have never been confirmed, but in April 2022 the BBC saw the accommodation the asylum seekers would be housed in, which was thought to have enough space to process up to 500 people a year, in line with what Sunak seems to have argued for.
The documents describe a significant difference of view between No 10 and 11 Downing Street on the effectiveness of the proposed scheme saying the chancellor believes the "deterrent won't work".
The papers also reveal that No 10 suggested Mr Sunak should be told to "consider his popularity with the base" if he was reluctant to sign up to changes to the migration system, including the Rwanda plan.
Despite the proposal being ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court, the prime minister has vowed to change the law so that flights can take off to Rwanda.
However, it is likely to be hard for him to admit that he has questions about the plan, especially since some right-wing MPs in his party have pushed him to take additional steps to achieve his objective of preventing migrants from crossing the Channel and maybe withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a statement, Labour MP and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This shows what an utter con the Tories' Rwanda scheme is and how weak Rishi Sunak has now become.