Sunak’s Rwanda flights to take off ‘within weeks’, health secretary claims

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The health secretary has stated that flights carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda will take off “within weeks” regardless of being unable to disclose whether or not the government had discovered a service.

Victoria Atkins maintained she needs flights to take off “as quickly as possible”, including that it’ll be “certainly within weeks.”

But when quizzed on Sky News about what airline can be finishing up the return flights, Ms Atkins was unable to reply.

She stated: “The Home Office is working on this… believe you me the Home Office is ready to go.”

She added: “We have seen some real progress in the last year with the reduction small road crossing by a third, which is contrary actually to the trend we’ve seen across the European continent”. She stated the Rwanda plan is simply “one part of our overall plan to cut illegal migration.”

Her feedback come as the federal government’s plan to deport migrants to Rwanda was thrown into turmoil after it was reported that Rwanda’s state airline turned down a proposal to transport UK asylum seekers to Kigali beneath Rishi Sunak’s offshore deportation scheme.

Reports final week recommended that RwandAir declined the federal government’s request late final 12 months after being approached about working the elimination flights.

The Financial Times quoted a Home Office insider, who claimed it was due to the potential harm to their model.

Rishi Sunak has beforehand maintained that flights to Rwanda would take off within the spring and that controlling immigration is a serious precedence to his authorities.

Mr Sunak has even threatened to override the UK’s obligations beneath the European Convention on Human Rights so as to guarantee his Rwanda plan goes forward.

In an interview, the prime minister defended his strategy to tackling small boats crossing the Channel, however indicated he can be keen to depart the ECHR if it blocked his Rwanda coverage.

He informed The Sun’ “I believe that all plans are compliant with all of our international obligations including the ECHR, but I do believe that border security and making sure that we can control illegal migration is more important than membership of a foreign court because it’s fundamental to our sovereignty as a country.”

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill – which is about to return to parliament subsequent week – consists of provisions that may enable ministers to ignore orders from the international courtroom.

But members of the extra average One Nation Group of Tory MPs have warned in opposition to leaving the conference, whereas others have stated such a transfer would breach the Good Friday Agreement which features a requirement to incorporate the ECHR into Northern Irish legislation.