# Keir Starmer scraps the UK Rwanda deportation scheme

Date: 2024

Shortly after Labour's July 2024 general-election victory, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the previous government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was 'dead and buried', stating it had never functioned as a deterrent. No asylum seeker had been removed under the scheme despite reported spending of around 220 million pounds. The government said savings would be redirected to a new Border Security Command focused on disrupting people-smuggling gangs behind small-boat Channel crossings.

## People

- Keir Starmer: https://factrail.ai/people/mig-keir-starmer

## Drivers

- Migration-policy restrictiveness and border control: https://factrail.ai/drivers/mig-policy-restrictiveness

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/starmer-scrap-rwanda-asylum-plan-after-labour-win-2024-07-05/
- https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/keir-starmers-first-speech-as-prime-minister-5-july-2024
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uk-prime-minister-starmer-rwanda-deportation-rcna160531
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/6/keir-starmer-says-scrapping-uks-rwanda-migrant-deportation-plan

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/mig-fact-uk-rwanda-scrapped