UK’s policy on deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda has not stopped crossings

Downing Street said that the plan hasn't stopped unofficial Channel crossings because of legal challenges to the policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Hundreds of people made the journey in recent days after a period without major numbers of crossings amid bad weather, bringing the total to more than 7,000 so far this year. This is the first time that this has happened since the passing of the nationalities and borders bill, which set out the policy framework.

The prime minister s official spokesperson said that a series of legal challenges could be part of the reason if Boris Johnson was disappointed the plan had not yet deterred such crossings.

Asked when it would be possible to know whether the policy was working, he said: I don't think there is a fixed date. There are a number of variables we need to deal with, not least some of the legal challenges that have been talked about. He said that he was not trying to prescribe motivation to individuals, despite the fact that he believed would-be asylum seekers in France were reading about the legal cases and therefore deciding to risk the crossing. I am just setting out some of the challenges that this policy has that we expected from the start. We are seeing that. People who arrive in the UK via unofficial routes, such as on small boats crossing the Channel, could be deported to Rwanda. Their asylum claims would be assessed with a view to remaining in the African country, with no chance of living in the UK.

In a pre-action letter sent to the Home Office, the solicitors said that Freedom from Torture has serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy, including documents outlining it, risk assessments and the memorandum of understanding signed by the UK and Rwanda.

The plan was to get the first deportation flights to leave by the end of May, as announced by the policy. Johnson's spokesman said this had slipped, asked about the timetable.

He said that we still aim to have the first flights leave in a matter of months, but because of some of those challenges it is hard to put an exact time on it. He said the plan was to move ahead with this as soon as possible, but the government was not unexpectedly seeing some of these legal challenges, and in a free and democratic society we need to engage with those in the normal way. We are planning to move ahead with the flights at the earliest possible time.