Legal challenges ‘likely to delay Rwanda flights until end of May’

Rwanda deportation flights are likely to be delayed until the end of May because of legal challenges by migrants, legal sources have said.

Each migrant will have a right to appeal after being notified of their removal to Rwanda, which Home Office insiders say will take up to eight to 10 weeks.

Rishi Sunak has said he wants flights to Rwanda to take off by the spring, and it is understood that Home Office officials have been told to get them started by the end of May.

The scheme, under which migrants who arrive illegally are detained and deported to their home country or a safe third nation such as Rwanda, is a central plank of the Prime Minister’s pledge to stop the boats.

A separate plan, revealed this week, under which failed asylum seekers are offered £3,000 to move voluntarily to Rwanda is being fast-tracked. The first flight could be within weeks if migrants take up the deal, with some already having been approached.

It comes as the Safety of Rwanda Bill, designed to secure deportation flights, returns to the Commons next week when the Government is expected to overturn amendments in the Lords. This will cause a ping-pong battle with the Lords before it is expected to be approved.

This will pave the way for a legal process under which each migrant notified of their removal will have seven days to appeal. The Home Office then has three days to decide the claim, after which there is then an appeal process over six days.

This can then go to an upper tribunal, which must give its decision within 22 days. This means the process will take at least 28 working days – nearly six weeks – and potentially longer because of “flexibility” guidelines and delays.

The judiciary has agreed to provide up to 5,000 additional sitting days by judges to try to fast-track the process in an attempt to ensure the first deportation flights leave before the end of May.

Home Office documents show that officials have identified “several critical risks” that could delay the first flights.

One risk would be officials failing to locate and detain sufficient numbers of migrants – some of whom might abscond – combined with “significant attrition” through the legal process that could mean there were “few/none” migrants available for a flight to Rwanda.

The second risk was identified as the logistics of removing migrants from immigration removal centres to the airfield, through protests by asylum campaigners, poor weather or commercial airlines or escort providers being unwilling to deliver their contracted services.

The third risk was Rwanda not being ready for arrivals, including not having the out of country judicial review facilities for legal aid, leading to legal challenges that could see migrants having to be returned to the UK.

A government source said: “We aim to get as many as we can on flights as soon as possible.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has been clear that we will begin flights to Rwanda as soon as possible. The sooner we start flights, the sooner we can prevent people making dangerous journeys across the Channel.”

“Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The closer the Rwanda plan gets to colliding with the reality of it happening, the clearer it is that it is unprincipled and unworkable in practice as well as poor value for the taxpayer.”