The first deportation flight due to take asylum seekers to Rwanda will not be taking off tonight following a series of last-minute legal appeals, the Home Office has confirmed.
A Home Office source said the plane, which is stood ready on a Ministry of Defence runway at Boscombe Down in Amesbury, will not be departing due to “last minute interventions from the European Court of Human Rights”.
Earlier this evening, it was confirmed that two individuals due to be sent to the east African country had had their exit from the UK postponed following last-ditch measures by lawyers.
Johnson hints UK could withdraw from European Convention on Human Rights – Politics news live
It was understood that the European Court, which granted an urgent interim measure blocking the removal of one Iraqi detainee who was due to be deported, was considering a number of further requests.
A total of seven individuals were believed to have been due to board the flight before the successful interventions were made.
Challenges by four asylum seekers due to be on the plane were rejected by UK courts earlier.
A fifth man lost a bid to bring an appeal at the Supreme Court after a panel of three justices refused him permission to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the flight to Rwanda could go ahead.
This rejected an appeal by two refugee charities and the Public and Commercial Services union.
Giving brief reasons for the decision, the court’s president, Lord Reed, said there had been an “assurance” that, if the government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda is found to be unlawful, steps would be taken to bring back any migrants flown to the east African nation in the interim.
The plan to send individuals to Rwanda has been contested in the courts and condemned by the Church of England’s senior bishops as “an immoral policy”.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has maintained that the policy’s aim is “to support safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK and to oppose the illegal and dangerous routes”.
The PM told broadcasters on Tuesday that the programme “may take a while to get working properly, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to keep going”.
Asked if it would be necessary to pull out of the European Convention of Human Rights to restrict legal challenges, Mr Johnson added: “Will it be necessary to change some laws to help us as we go along? It may very well be and all these options are under constant review.”
Stop Deportations protesters had earlier taken direct action to resist the first deportation flight, locking themselves together with metal pipes and blockading exits of Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre at Heathrow where the remaining people the Home Office intended to put on the plane were believed to be being held.
