MIGRANT rights campaigners hit back at the government’s “criminal” spending on its Rwanda deportation scheme today after a parliamentary report found that there was “little to show for money spent so far.”

The Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said that, despite the Home Office “committing significant sums of money to the Rwanda partnership and its large accommodation sites, there is little to show for the money spent so far.”

Amnesty International UK refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds said the MPs’ report “again confirms the vast amount of taxpayers’ money being wasted by ministers on trying to shirk rather than take their asylum responsibilities.”

He told the Morning Star: “For over three years, the government has pressed ahead with a policy to ignore tens of thousands of claims made in the UK in the fantasy it could simply expel people to other countries and deter anyone seeking asylum here.

“But this policy is as foolish as it is reckless, immoral and expensive.”

Mr Valdez-Symonds called on the Home Office to “fairly and efficiently” deal with asylum claims and grant refuge to those entitled to it.

“Otherwise, the human and financial costs will likely keep rising, making it even harder to ever get the asylum system back in working order,” he warned.

Stand Up To Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “The amount of money spent on the Rwanda scheme is criminal.

“Its only achievement has been to stir up racism and division to distract from the problems caused by this government, like the cost-of-living and NHS crises, when all along the money spent on Rwanda could have been invested in the NHS and supporting those in need.”

Freedom from Torture associate director of advocacy Natasha Tsangarides said that the “real cost of the government’s cruel Rwanda plan is the human one.”

The Home Office was approached for comment.