RWANDA FLIGHTS HIT BY FRESH DISARRAY

CABINET MINISTER ATTACKS COURT MOVE... BUT CAN'T SAY WHEN NEXT PLANE WILL LEAVE

- Nicholas Cecil, Martin Bentham and David Bond

BORIS JOHNSON'S immigration policy was plunged into further confusion today after a Cabinet minister was unable to say when a second attempt would be made to send a deportation flight to Rwanda after the first one was grounded following legal rulings.

Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey hit out at European judges for intervening late last night, which led to the flight, with just a few migrants due to be on board, being halted before take-off.

She insisted the Home Office was preparing for a fresh attempt to send a flight to Rwanda. But when pressed on Sky News about whether it would take days or weeks, she said: "I'm not going to get into operational disclosures." Ms Coffey was also unable to say if the Government intended to deport hundreds or thousands of migrants to Rwanda in the first year of the scheme's operation.

She suggested that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had rushed through its ruling on one case, an Iraqi national, which had led to other legal action and steps to stop the deportation of the handful of other people due to be on the flight.