The UK says it has paid Rwanda $300 million for a blocked asylum deal. No flights have taken off

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to explain why Britain has paid Rwanda 240 million pounds ($300 million) as part of a blocked asylum plan. That’s without a single person being sent to the East African country. The total is almost twice the 140 million pounds Britain previously said it had paid under the deal. Under the agreement, migrants who reach Britain across the English Channel would be sent on a one-way trip to Rwanda. Last month the U.K. Supreme Court ruled the plan illegal, but Sunak has pledged to press on with it. The British government said it paid a further 100 million pounds to Rwanda in the 2023-24 financial year, with another 50 million pounds to come.