The Rwandan government has launched legal action against the UK to seek payments it claims it is owed under a scrapped migrant deal between the two countries.

Rwanda has filed a case with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, arguing the UK has failed to honour commitments made in a deal to send some asylum seekers to the African nation.

Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers and support its economy.

But after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer axed the deal in 2024, the Home Office said £220m in “scheduled future payments will not have to be paid” to Rwanda.

The BBC has asked the Home Office for comment.

The prime minister’s spokesman said the government would “robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers”.

“The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster,” the spokesman told reporters. “It wasted £700m of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers.”

The Rwandan government has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment. But the country’s ministry of foreign affairs pointed us towards an article about the arbitration proceedings in the New Times, a Rwandan newspaper.

The article says the arbitration “concerns the performance of specific commitments under the treaty”.

The previous Conservative government spent some £700m on the Rwanda policy, which was intended to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Only four volunteers arrived in Rwanda when the deal was in force and Sir Keir said the plan was “dead and buried”, shortly after Labour won the 2024 general election.

The deal included a break clause, which said “each party may terminate this agreement by giving notice to the other party in writing”.

The £700m included £290m of payments to Rwanda.

In December 2024, the Home Office said a further £100m of payments would have been due under the treaty, £50m each of the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years.

In addition, the Home Office agreed to pay £120m upon the transfer of 300 people to Rwanda.

The New Times article quotes a government adviser as saying Rwanda had “engaged in diplomatic exchanges before initiating arbitration”.

Michael Butera, chief technical adviser to Rwanda’s minister of justice, told the newspaper: “Through arbitration, Rwanda seeks a legal determination of the parties’ respective rights and obligations under the treaty, in accordance with international law.”

In the treaty signed by Rwanda and the UK, both countries agreed any dispute that could not be settled among themselves would be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

The PCA, which is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, is a forum for resolving international disputes between states.

It is a process that is similar to arbitration that companies regularly agree to as an alternative to potentially damaging and lengthy court battles.

The PCA has the power to issue binding, final rulings if disputes cannot be settled by the countries involved.

Rwanda began the arbitration proceedings under the asylum partnership agreement in November, according to the PCA’s website, which lists the case’s status as pending.

The PCA has not yet indicated how and when the complaint from Rwanda will be handled.

The arbitration body typically sets a timetable with the parties specifying when they need to present their arguments – and the cases can take years to resolve.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the legal action was “yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme before it even started”.

“This legal action means the British taxpayer is now facing a huge bill for Labour’s weakness and incompetence,” Philp said.

He said Labour was “too weak to see this crucial policy through, and it’s the British taxpayer who is left to pay the price”.

The UK government previously said it was looking at what money could be recouped after scrapping the scheme.

But the Rwandan government has said it is under “no obligation” to refund any money.

A frowning horse plush has become a viral bestseller ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations for the year of the horse in China.

The sad-looking soft toy was originally made in error after a worker sewed a smile on the horse upside down, the owner of Happy Sister – a shop in the eastern city of Yiwu – told Reuters news agency.

Zhang Huoqing had expected to have to issue a refund to the customer who bought the toy, but after an image of it started circulating online the horse began selling out.

Zhang said the animal’s gloomy expression was resonating with young workers in China.

“A lot of customers like it, and they said it makes sense: that it suits the spirit of today’s corporate slaves,” Zhang said.

“This crying horse really fits the reality of modern working people,” she added.

“People joked that the crying horse is how you look at work, while the smiling one is how you look after work.”

Zhang’s factory has surged production to meet demand – including from other countries, according to media reports.

One buyer, known online as Tuan Tuan Mami, was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying: “This little horse looks so sad and pitiful, just like the way I feel at work.

“With this crying toy in the Year of the Horse, I hope to leave all my grievances at work behind and keep only happiness.”

The newspaper says the horse is about 20cm (7.8in) tall and costs 25 yuan (£2.62). It is red for good luck, with a golden collar and bell around its neck, and has the phrase “money comes quickly” embroidered on its body in golden letters.

Another shop owner in Yiwu, Lou Zhenxian, told Reuters she thought the toy was ugly, but “it’s the kind of emotional value young people look for these days”.

She described young people going to work in the kind of state like the crying horse, and when you get off work “being immediately happy”.

“But actually if everyone chases that kind of sentiment, the young people’s way of thinking, it’s not quite right. I believe you should work hard when at work and be happy after work, it shouldn’t be two extreme opposites,” she said.

Lunar New Year will be celebrated in February to usher in the year of the horse – one of 12 animals repeated in a cycle under the Chinese zodiac calendar.