The Conservative government spent more than £130m on IT and data systems for a scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the scheme will never be used, observer can be revealed.

The digital tools needed to implement the forced eviction program represent the second largest chunk of the £715m spent over just over two years, behind the £290m directed to Paul Kagame's government.

These include a database for complaints expected to be made to an "oversight committee" set up to oversee whether the deal complies with human rights law, and a system for enforcing the Conservatives' legal obligations as they try to deport asylum seekers who arrive in small boats .

Labor announced it was scrapping the policy shortly after winning the election, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling it "the most appalling waste of taxpayers' money I have ever seen".

An interior ministry official said data protection laws had led to increased spending and a new system was needed to send biometric information such as fingerprints to Rwandan authorities.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs must deploy people and technology to Rwanda so that they comply with data protection regulations,” the civil servant added.

“If people are sent to Rwanda and appeal, the system means they have to wait in Rwanda for a decision.

"If their appeal is successful they will be flown back to the UK, so part of those costs is setting up the IT infrastructure to get them visas and transport."

The £134m spent on IT projects was not disclosed as part of the spending breakdown published by the Labor government last month because it was grouped with a wider £280m of "other fixed costs".

Detailed breakdown obtained observer According to Freedom of Information Acts, £87m was also spent on staff directly involved in the Rwanda program who were later redeployed to other tasks.

A further £57m has been spent since 2022, listed as "planning and legal costs", including a court battle in which a Supreme Court judge declared the Rwanda scheme unlawful in 2023, and the Home Office's response to individuals brought to selected asylums Challenge seeker. An Interior Ministry source said the company paid for lawyers from the government's legal department and external lawyers, adding: "Some are lawyers drafting these agreements (with Rwanda) or handling legal challenges, and some are subject to judicial review or appeals barrister.

"The Home Office basically appeals every ruling that goes against them, so the costs keep going up."

The category also includes spending on developing the Conservatives' broader "new plan for immigration," which hired outside consultants to help plan and design the plan.

Home Ministry sources said the program was divided into a number of "projects" with several staff assigned to each project.

"The law is poorly written and difficult to implement," they added. "It requires hiring large numbers of policy staff to do these jobs, most of whom are consultants or people promoted on a temporary basis."

Previously revealed planned spending in Rwanda includes £95m to increase capacity in immigration detention centres, which are insufficient to accommodate the number of asylum seekers the Conservatives want to force-flight to Kigali.

An attempted flight in June 2022 and planning and preparation for further flights cost £50m.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents Home Office and Border Force staff, said the huge sum of money "could and should be better spent on providing safe and humane solutions to small boat crossings in the English Channel".

Secretary-General Fran Heathcote said: "As we said at the time, the previous government's plans for Rwanda would never stop ships - this was purely political posturing."

Only four volunteers traveled to Kigali as a result of the policy, and late changes mean the policy may apply to failed asylum seekers.

They were offered £3,000 to leave the UK voluntarily and the promise of a full suite of support under the original scheme designed for small boat migrants who had been declared "unacceptable" seeking asylum in the UK.

Conservative ministers claimed the Rwanda policy would "stop" small boat crossings when it was announced in April 2022, but the Home Office permanent secretary refused to sign off on the policy, with Priti Patel using a rare ministerial directive to force it Policy passed.

Matthew Rycroft warned the then home secretary that there was "uncertainty about value for money" and that the scheme would incur "significant costs", adding: "I don't think there is enough evidence to prove that the policy will "Producing a deterrent effect is important enough to make the policy worthwhile."

Patel responded to Sir Matthew's formal directive to proceed, claiming it would "reduce illegal immigration, save lives and ultimately break the business model of smuggling gangs".

The year the Rwanda policy was announced, small boat crossings hit a record high, and in the period that followed, deaths in the English Channel rose steadily, with at least 78 deaths known to have occurred in 2024.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP said: “One of Labour’s first actions was to abolish our illegal immigration deterrent before it even started, and they didn’t even have a clear plan of their own, despite spending 14 year to make plans.

“This Labor Government must act urgently to ensure no more people are killed crossing the English Channel, no more gangs profit from this organized crime and no more taxpayers’ money is wasted on hotels.

“We know this is a priority for the British people, which is why, under new leadership, we will take the time to develop a clear and effective plan to tackle illegal immigration year-on-year.”