Mahmood vows to fight 'last-minute' asylum claims

The home secretary has vowed to fight vexatious, last-minute” legal claims from asylum seekers fighting their removal under the UK’s one in, one out” deal with France.

- HOLLY BANCROFT ARCHIE MITCHELL MILLIE COOKE

Shabana Mahmood pledged that the deportations would still go ahead this week, and called a court decision to block the removal of an asylum seeker "intolerable".

It comes after the High Court granted a last-minute injunction to a 25-year-old Eritrean man on Tuesday evening, halting his removal on an early flight to Paris yesterday.

Labour is under mounting pressure to demonstrate that the much-vaunted returns deal with France will actually work, after scheduled flights on each of the last three days left the UK without any migrants on board.

Ms Mahmood said that "last-minute attempts to frustrate a removal are intolerable" and added that she would "fight them at every step", as she confirmed that the Home Office would appeal against the High Court's temporary block.

The judge has given the Eritrean asylum seeker, who is still in detention, 14 days to challenge a Home Office decision that he doesn't qualify for modern slavery support.

The man said he was a victim of trafficking in Libya and, as such, was entitled to help under the UK's National Referral Mechanism. He was given time to challenge his negative decision after the Home Office conceded that he would not be able to pursue the claim from France.

Lawyers told the court that he would not be able to argue for modern slavery support from "the streets of France" and that there was a real risk he could be made destitute by being returned there.