Rishi Sunak had significant doubts about the government’s scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda when he was chancellor, it has been reported.
The BBC said it had seen documents suggesting the now prime minister believed hotels were “cheaper” than reception centres and that he was concerned about the costs of the Rwanda scheme.
The No 10 papers are from March 2022, one month before the plan was announced by Boris Johnson, it was reported.
The BBC said the documents revealed the chancellor also wanted “to pursue smaller volumes initially” with 500 flown to Rwanda in the first year of the scheme, instead of the proposed 1,500.
They said he then proposed “3,000 instead of 5,000 in years two and three”. He was described as believing the “deterrent won’t work”.
Sunak has since come under pressure to defend his new Rwanda asylum law as he battles to hold together a fractured Conservative party and avoid challenges to his premiership.
The documents, which said No 10 suggested Sunak needed to “consider his popularity with the base” over the Rwanda plan, added that he was reluctant to fund “Greek-style reception centres” at a cost of £3.5m a day to house migrants, and preferred hotels.
A source close to Sunak told the BBC: “The prime minister was always fully behind the principle of the scheme as a deterrent.
“As chancellor it was his job to make sure it delivered and taxpayers’ money was appropriately spent.”
It has emerged that the cost of the scheme has more than doubled to £290m. The Home Office has admitted that, on top of the initial £140m payment to Rwanda, it had handed over a further £100m, and an extra £50m is to follow.
A government source said: “As chancellor, Rishi funded the Rwanda scheme and put it at the heart of his 10-point plan the month after becoming PM.
“Now he is passing the Rwanda bill, following the supreme court judgment, to get flights off the ground. He is the first prime minster ever to oversee a reduction in small boat crossings, which were down by 36% last year.”
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told the BBC: “The prime minister knew the plan was incredibly costly and wouldn’t work, and resisted it while he was chancellor.
“But he is so weak he has now agreed to write cheques to Rwanda for £400m without sending a single person there in a desperate attempt to shore up his leadership.”
Sunak has pledged to continue with the plan for migrant flights to Rwanda, despite a ruling by the UK supreme court that it was unlawful.
He said on Tuesday: “I am focused on delivering on my commitment to stop the boats and get flights off the ground to Rwanda.”
Sunak has previously been accused by Keir Starmer of giving Rwanda “hundreds of millions of pounds for nothing in return” following the signing of a deportation treaty. Starmer said the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, had seen the prime minister coming “a mile off”.
