‘Rishi Sunak had doubts over Rwanda scheme as chancellor’

London: Rishi Sunak was not entirely convinced about sending illegal migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims were assessed during his time as chancellor, a UK media report claimed on Saturday.

The 43-year-old British Indian leader, who has been championing the scheme as Prime Minister, had significant doubts over the policy when he was finance minister in former boss Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, the BBC report says based on papers it has seen from two years ago.

The documents suggest Sunak was concerned about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the East African country and wanted to limit the numbers initially.

A source close to Sunak told the BBC: “The Prime Minister was always fully behind the principle of the scheme as a deterrent.

“As chancellor, it was his job to make sure it delivered and taxpayers’ money was appropriately spent.”

Sunak, who took charge at 10 Downing Street in October 2022, was the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer in No. 11 Downing Street when the Rwanda policy was first announced in April 2022. The deal with Rwanda has since been caught up in legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent from the UK so far.