First Rwanda deportation flight could take off on July 1

The first Rwanda deportation flight could take off on July 1, a court document has shown.

It is the first time a specific start date has been mooted for the Government’s flagship scheme, which is aimed at deterring migrants from illegally crossing the Channel to the UK.

The revelation emerged on Friday after the High Court rejected a request from ministers for more time to prepare for a legal challenge to the scheme.

The First Division Association, a Civil Service union, has launched a judicial review into whether officials complying with ministerial orders to ignore possible European Court of Human Rights injunctions grounding flights would be put in conflict with international law and, by extension, the Civil Service Code.

The judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, revealed that the Government had said that “the earliest a removal is expected to take place is July 1 to 15”.

Ordering that the case should be fast-tracked to a hearing in early June, he said there was a “powerful public interest” in hearing the First Division Association’s case long before the first flight was scheduled to take place.

July 1 is in line with the timetable set out by Rishi Sunak last month after the Government finally succeeded in getting its Rwanda Bill through Parliament. On April 22, the Prime Minister said: “The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks”.

A source close to James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, told The Telegraph: “We will be fully focused on working to the timeline set out by the PM.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Cleverly said civil servants had a duty to implement ministers’ decisions. Asked about the legal action, he said: “The role of a Civil Service is to implement the decisions of Government. It is really clear and unambiguous.

“That is the way the British system works. You have a politically impartial Civil Service delivering on the commitments made by the elected government. That’s how it should remain.”

Separately, the Asylum Aid charity has said it is preparing legal action over the Rwanda plan. It claims caseworkers given the task of deciding who goes to Rwanda have been given instructions that mean they will effectively ignore evidence of harm, despite a duty to take it into account.

Alison Pickup, the Asylum Aid director, said: “We have brought forward this legal action to ensure that the Home Office properly considers any individual cases against removal to Rwanda, including on the grounds that they would be returned from Rwanda to the place they fled.”

Defending the Rwanda scheme, Mr Cleverly said: “The point is we have a commitment to protect our borders, to protect the integrity of our borders, and we will do that.

“It is the right thing to do for people in this country, and also dissuading people from putting themselves into the hands of evil criminal gangs, who care nothing about their safety, is also a moral imperative.”

Last week, immigration officials started detaining migrants ahead of the planned Rwanda deportations. Pictures and video released by the Home Office showed uniformed immigration officers carrying out a dawn raid.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained by highly-trained teams following a series of nationwide operations this week.

“We will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, creating the deterrent effect to help break up the people smuggling business model and stop the boats.”