The scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme, initiated by the previous Conservative government, has cost British taxpayers £700 million, with only four volunteers being sent to Kigali, and was projected to cost over £10 billion in six years. Labour's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticized the scheme as a 'shocking waste of taxpayer money,' citing expenses such as payments to Rwanda, chartering unused flights, and employing over a thousand civil servants for the project. The Labour government, upon assuming power, immediately terminated the scheme, labeling it an expensive and ineffective gimmick, and announced plans to redirect funds towards a new Border Security Command to combat people-smuggling. Cooper also highlighted ongoing high levels of small boat crossings in the English Channel and the need for more effective and transparent border control measures.