Rwanda is getting around four times more money yearly under the Government’s asylum seeker deportation deal than East Yorkshire stands to gain under devolution proposals, according an MP.
Dame Diana Johnson claimed Rwanda was set for an average of £54.4m-a-year in economic developing funding over five years as part of its deal to take asylum seekers from the UK.
The Hull North MP told the Commons that it compared to £13.3m a year for 30 years offered to Hull and the East Riding under devolution proposals.
Dame Diana said.
“We’re going to get an extra £13.3m-a-year shared between the two councils in the area. My constituents are wondering why the Government’s putting that amount of money into Rwanda when it got elected in 2019 on a policy of levelling up and my area is getting so much less,”
Responding to the claims on Thursday, Penny Mordaunt, the Government’s leader of the Commons, said that East Yorkshire would receive more money than just that offered through devolution deals, and claimed that the Rwanda scheme would benefit Hull and East Yorkshire.
In December, the Home Office revealed that the total cost of the Rwanda scheme had reached £290m. The set-up costs of the deportation scheme have so far totalled £20m while the remaining £270m is due to fund infrastructure, healthcare, education and jobs in the central African country.
Meanwhile, an impact assessment for the scheme has estimated that sending 1,000 migrants to Rwanda would cost a further £169m, pushing total spending above £400m.
Under the draft devolution deal for Hull and the East Riding, a new combined authority would receive £400m over 30 years. The proposals are undergoing a public consultation, which is due to end on Tuesday, February 27.
Penny Mordaunt said the Rwanda scheme was designed to ease pressure on public services, and this would be of benefit to Hull and the East Riding.
The Commons leader said:
“Devolution deals are a vital tool along with many other sources of funding for communities that need it.
“It’s not the only source of funding and that area will be getting more streams of funding. With the finite money that the Government has, it’s important that we direct that to where we want to spend it.
“We have porous borders and people who abuse our asylum system. The Rwanda scheme is designed to be a deterrent to that and if it stands up it will be of benefit to her constituents.”
The Government is trying to get its Rwanda Bill through Parliament after the Supreme Court ruled the scheme was unlawful last year.
Ministers have claimed that Rwanda is a safe country to send migrants to and the scheme would deter dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK and disrupt people smuggling. The Bill was passed by the Commons last month and is now in the House of Lords.
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