Now first Rwanda jet delayed to November

IMMIGRATION barristers have delayed the first asylum seekers’ flight to Rwanda until November – and possibly next year.

A number of charities, a trade union, and individual migrants who crossed the Channel by dinghy or hidden in lorries, are together contesting the policy of deporting ‘irregular’ refugees to Rwanda.

Those who arrive by clandestine means are supposed to be flown to Africa to seek asylum there. But a ruling in June by a single night duty judge at the European Court of Human Rights halted the first flight.

A judicial review of the policy was due to conclude today but barristers fighting the Home Office successfully adjourned

the hearing after raising fresh concerns over human rights.

Yesterday, the High Court judges hearing the case at London’s Royal Courts of Justice ruled that the challenges to the flights will be heard at two hearings, the first in September and the second in mid-October.

The judgments will be delivered together, possibly weeks later. Even if the rulings are in favour of the Government scheme, appeals could then push back the first flight to 2023.

The Border Force is ‘escorting’ illegal migrants to the UK, a report found yesterday. Alexander

Downer, the former Australian immigration minister, reviewed the British security body and found it is ‘effectively rescuing’ migrants in small boats. His 60-page report said the Government should turn boats around ‘when it is safe and legal to do so’.