Rishi Sunak considered AXING Rwanda asylum seeker scheme in July 2022 but was warned off
RISHI Sunak considered axing the Rwanda scheme in July 2022.
He “weighed up” ditching the £290million deportation plan during the Tory leadership election amid fears it would not work.
The PM yesterday admitted raising concerns about the value for money of the policy while he was Chancellor — but insisted he now fully backs it.
Tory sources say his wobble came during his unsuccessful bid for the top job against Liz Truss two years ago.
One campaign insider said: “He was told very clearly it would go down badly with the MPs who loved it and he changed his mind.”
The revelation comes after leaked documents showed Mr Sunak pushed back against the idea while in charge of the Treasury and capped the funding for the project, which was first unveiled in April 2022.
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But he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that his job then was “always approach things from a position of scepticism”.
He added: “But to infer from that that I don’t believe in the scheme or the principle of deterrence is wrong.”
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has called for the papers outlining Mr Sunak’s concerns to be made public.
MPs will vote again in two weeks on new legislation to try to get planes off to Rwanda after the Supreme Court blocked the plan.
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Mr Sunak risked a fresh rift with the right of his party yesterday after refusing to say he would ignore any interim injunction from the European Court of Human Rights that grounded flights.