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. The total is almost twice the 140 million pounds Britain previously said it had paid, all without a single person being sent to the East African country. 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. 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.