Suella Braverman won’t say Rwanda deportation flights will start by summer
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Loading... - Anitha Nsabimana
- 06 Apr 2023
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Home secretary refuses to give a deadline for when her controversial policy for asylum seekers will begin
Suella Braverman has been unable to confirm that the first promised deportation flights to Rwanda will take off this summer, as the controversial policy continues to face scrutiny in the courts.
The home secretary, whose officials briefed that plans were on track during her trip to the African country last month, played down the prospect of the flights going ahead shortly. “We are making very steady progress,” she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “I am not going to give a deadline as to when flights will take off.”
There remain some legal obstacles to the government’s implementation of its deal to detain and swiftly remove all people arriving by irregular means, with challenges going through the courts.
However, a Home Office source had told reporters that “we are certainly working towards getting the flights off before the summer”. Several news organisations interpreted that as a pledge to remove people under the scheme.
Braverman was also unable to say when the government’s plan to “stop the boats” bringing people across the Channel would be delivered. “I’m not going to put dates on it, but the rules are clear: if you arrive here illegally, you’ll be detained,” she said. Read More…
