Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Rwanda flights on hold while legal action continues – minister

Flights sending migrants to Rwanda may not take place until later this year at the earliest amid ongoing legal action, MPs heard (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Flights sending migrants to Rwanda may not take place until later this year at the earliest amid ongoing legal action, MPs heard (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Flights sending migrants to Rwanda may not take place until later this year at the earliest amid ongoing legal action, MPs heard.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the Government still hopes to restart flights “as soon as possible”, but it was “right” to wait until court appeals have concluded.

His comments, made as he faced questions from the Commons Women and Equalities Committee on Wednesday, come as more migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
Channel crossings resumed on Wednesday as the weather improved (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Groups of people wearing life jackets, and some wrapped in blankets, were pictured being brought into Dover, Kent, on a Border Force boat amid calm conditions at sea.

Government figures show that so far this year 592 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, with activity recorded on only three days in January. This is compared to the 1,339 people who made the journey in the first month of 2022.

Asked when the Government hopes to restart flights to Rwanda, Mr Jenrick told MPs: “As soon as possible. It obviously remains the Government’s policy. We see it as an absolutely critical way of deterring people from making the dangerous crossing and changing the business model of the people smugglers …”

Last month, High Court judges ruled the policy was lawful – but so far efforts to launch it have been stalled by legal action.

Mr Jenrick said an appeal “will be heard later this year”, adding: “We look forward to defending the Government’s position once again as robustly as possible and hope, and expect, that we’ll have a similar outcome in the Court of Appeal.”

When asked to confirm if the Government was waiting for the appeal to conclude before any flights will start again, he replied: “Yes. It’s right that we await to the outcome of the British courts … then obviously the Government will decide how to proceed once we have the final judgment.”