Independent panel for Uk-rwanda partnership

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has created an independent panel of human rights and asylum experts to monitor the controversial Rwanda deportation policy on the eve of a High Court challenge against its legality.

The eight-strong panel includes supporters of offshoring asylum claims and forced returns of failed asylum seekers, as well as human rights experts and lawyers.

The announcement comes ahead of a legal challenge to the policy by charities, the PCS union representing Border Force staff and individual asylum seekers, who claim it is unlawful and breaches human rights laws.