The first flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda will leave in 10-12 weeks, Rishi Sunak said as he promised that “no ifs, no buts” the scheme would be put into operation.
The Prime Minister said “enough is enough” as he said MPs and peers would sit through the night if necessary to get the Safety of Rwanda Bill through Parliament.
Mr Sunak had originally promised that flights would go to Rwanda in spring, but his new timetable suggested the first plane would not leave until July.
At a Downing Street press conference he blamed Labour opposition to the scheme for the delays, but vowed: “We will start the flights and we will stop the boats.”
The Prime Minister said an airfield was on standby and charter flights had been booked to take asylum seekers on the one-way trip to Rwanda.
Mr Sunak said: “Enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote no matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda.”
Describing the plan as an “indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives”, Mr Sunak added: “Starting from the moment that the Bill passes, we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight. We have prepared for this moment.”
Mr Sunak said it was “one of the most complex operational endeavours” the Home Office had carried out.
He said: “To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200. To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained, dedicated caseworkers ready and waiting.
“To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days.”
The European Court of Human Rights had amended procedures on interim orders, Mr Sunak said, and “we’ve put beyond all doubt that ministers can disregard these injunctions with clear guidance that if they decide to do so, civil servants must deliver that instruction”.
Mr Sunak promised that “once the processing is complete, we will physically remove people”.
“And to do that, I can confirm that we’ve put an airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes for specific slots and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks,” he said.
“This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home Office has carried out. But we are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may.
“No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.”