The UK has paid the Rwandan government an additional £100 million as part of its agreement to transfer asylum seekers to the East African nation. 

The additional payment, made in April but only made public by the Home Office in a letter to the UK’s members of parliament on Thursday night, brings the total amount of money the UK government has spent on the programme since it began last year to £240 million. 

This came against the backdrop of the UK Supreme Court ruling that Rwanda is not a secure enough third nation to send asylum seekers to. 

Human Rights Watch called the decision “a huge victory” and said it would safeguard the rights of many individuals who have fled to the UK in search of protection. 

However, rather than comply with the court rulings, the UK is anticipated to pay an additional £50 million in addition to the previous £100 million payment, as reported by the Financial Times. 

This would bring the total cost to £290 million. 

Tom Pursglove, the recently appointed minister of immigration, responded by saying that the payments should be viewed in light of the £8 million the government spends every day on hotel accommodations for asylum seekers and as a means of eventually reducing expenses.

Cabinet minister Lucy Frazer on Monday said that British lawyers could be sent to Rwandan courts as part of a new treaty to finally implement the government’s plan to fly asylum seekers to the African nation.