𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

America could be using migrant facilities in Rwanda paid for by British taxpayers, Chris Philp warned.

The Shadow Home Secretary defended the Tories’ deportation deal with Kigali, saying it cost a tiny fraction of the asylum bill.

And Mr Philp revealed Washington has signed its own deal with the Rwandan Government.

He told a fringe event at Conservative Party conference: “The USA are now using Rwanda, possibly even using the facilities we paid for, because Labour so foolishly cancelled that scheme just before it was going to start.”

In August it emerged the African nation would accept up to 250 migrants removed under Donald Trump’s mass-deportation programme.

Rwanda will be paid by the United States to take the migrants, in the form of a grant, an official said.

When asked about his claim, Mr Philp said: “It was reported that the US were doing that. In terms of re-implementation, clearly the Labour government, having very foolishly cancelled that scheme, has probably caused some of that money to be wasted.

“I would point out that the money spent on Rwanda, which ran into a few hundred million pounds, is a relatively small amount of money when compared to the multiple billions being spent on asylum.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer cancelled the Rwanda deportation scheme on his first day in office, describing it as a gimmick.

Labour claimed the Tories spent £700million a deal that saw just four failed asylum seekers voluntarily moving to Rwanda.