At one point, the government considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers – like the Rwanda scheme – according to documents seen by Sky News.
This could have taken people from the UK to a country to which the government advises against all travel.
The two countries already have a return agreement – but only for people who are from Iraq.
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According to leaked correspondence between senior officials, commitments to return from Iraq were made with a “request for discretion” and without publicity.
The country was willing to move forward, but did not want a formal or public agreement.
The current Iraq travel advice on the Foreign Office website simply advises against “all travel to parts of Iraq”. However, according to the document, negotiations were well advanced and described in a framework as “recent good progress with Iraq”.
Other government objectives included strengthening cooperation with the Iranian Embassy in order to improve return conditions for migrants and potential asylum seekers.
Return agreements are also in the works for Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to documents on the work carried out by the Home Office and Foreign Office, which refers to the countries with the highest number of citizens arriving in the UK in small boats.
In a series of internal government documents seen by Sky News, even from the early stages of the Rwanda policy, Downing Street advisers knew there were serious problems with their proposals.
There are even private confessions that many people who arrived here in small boats did so without the assistance of criminal gangs – despite their communication strategy.
Comparisons were also made Australia’s response – to what Downing Street authorities understood to be a “minor problem” comparable to that of the United Kingdom and admitted that it cost billions of Australian dollars for their devolution processes to be fully operational.
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In a document presented to the Home Office, some of the most senior officials at the time wrote that their direction was to be “prepared to pay above the odds” to put the policy to work. And that Rwanda’s initial offer was a “modest sum”.
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Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has estimated the cost of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda at £1.8 million per person for the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali.
It also announced that since April 2022 the Home Office paid £220 million towards Rwanda’s economic transformation and the integration fund, which is intended to support economic growth in Rwanda, and will continue to make payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda.
It will also pay additional sums of £50 million next year and a further £50 million the year after that.
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A government source said: “The Home Office spends millions every day to accommodate migrants in hotels – this is neither right nor fair. We are taking action to put an end to this expensive and dangerous cycle. Doing nothing is not a free option – we have to act if we want to stop the boats and save lives.
“The UK continues to work with a range of international partners to tackle the global challenges of illegal migration. Our partnership with Rwanda is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we will be launching flights to Rwanda over the next nine years for eleven weeks.”
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