What is the controversial Rwanda action plan new UK PM has vowed to scrap?

Newly-elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to scrap the controversial Rwanda action plan floated by the previous conservative government. The move was one of Starmer's first acts in office.

“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” Starmer said in his first news conference. “It's never acted as a deterrent. Almost the opposite.”

Responding to Starmer's announcement, Rwanda's government has said it is aware of the United Kingdom's intention to terminate the deal.

A Rwanda government spokesperson said the deal which was initiated by the UK is a problem of the UK, not Rwanda.

What is the Rwanda plan?

In 2022, former PM Boris Johnson-led British government signed a with Rwanda to deport illegal migrants. This was done in view of the growing number of migrants in the country coming from around the world, crossing the English Channel from France in boats. Many of them applied for asylum and got it. The erstwhile conservative government argued these migrants should not be treated as genuine refugees because they did not claim asylum in another safe country, such as France, that they reached first.

The plan came under severe fire from human rights groups who called it unethical and impractical. Ahead of the recently-concluded elections, former PM Rishi Sunak had said the first flights carrying migrants to Rwanda will leave in July. But he is now out of power and the plan never took off.

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