Rwanda asylum plan (2022-2024)
The UK government under Boris Johnson announced a plan to send small-boat arrivals to Rwanda. Parliament passed legislation in 2024 to make the plan work, after the Supreme Court ruled the policy unlawful in November 2023. No one was ever deported to Rwanda under it.
Labour scrapped the plan on taking office in July 2024, after years of legal battles and payments to Rwanda.
It left a precedent that returns-based deterrence is politically popular but legally and operationally difficult to deliver.
Both the Rwanda plan and the one-in-one-out pilot tried to deter Channel crossings through removals; both ended with few actual transfers and no lasting deterrent.
