MIGRANT FLIGHT PLANS TO RWANDA IN 'GOOD PLACE'

PLANS to send deportation flights to Rwanda are in a "good place" ahead of the bill becoming law next week.

- Sam Lister and Michael Knowles

Promises that a plane will take off as soon as possible are a "statement of intent", Home Office sources have insisted.

The Express has been told the first flight of Rishi Sunak's flagship policy will not happen in the days after legislation clears Parliament.

A senior source said: "All the preparations we could do before royal assent are in a good place. But anyone who thinks there will be flights the day after is wrong. There are things that have to be done after royal assent. But we are not talking months." MPs will vote to overturn a string of amendments to the bill on Monday after peers inflicted 10 defeats on the Government over the plans.

The PM has made "stopping the boats" a key pledge of his leadership and warned the Lords against frustrating the "will of the people".

Meanwhile, a separate scheme to pay migrants to move to Rwanda voluntarily was slammed as "ludicrous" yesterday.

Ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, below, said the move showed "astonishing naivety".

Failed asylum seekers could be given up to £3,000 to board a flight to capital Kigali after an agreement struck by the UK and Rwandan Governments. But Mr Jenrick launched a blistering attack, saying: "This is an admission from the Government that the weaker version of the Rwanda scheme that they chose to pursue will not work.

Naivety

"The version of the Rwanda Bill I proposed and more than 60 Conservative MPs supported amendments to deliver would have made this unnecessary.

"The Government has tacitly conceded that, unlike our plan, their bill doesn't give them the legal powers required to enforce mass removals of illegal migrants to Rwanda.

"So instead they will attempt to pay those who have flagrantly broken our laws to leave the UK. It's a betrayal of the original intent of the Rwanda scheme, which was to create a robust and sustainable deterrent.