Rwanda flights will only carry ‘couple of dozen’ migrants each, ministers indicate
Ministers expect each Rwanda deportation flight to carry only around two-dozen asylum seekers, i understands.
Home Secretary James Cleverly has privately indicated to colleagues to expect only around “a couple of dozen” migrants-per-flight as part of Rishi Sunak’s plan for “regular rhythm” of “multiple flights a month” this summer, a source said.
It came as the Prime Minister said the deaths of five people, including a child, during an attempt to cross the Channel showed the need for the Rwanda scheme as a deterrent to people undertaking small boat crossings.
However, Sunak faced fresh threats of legal action which could scupper his aim of deportation flights from taking off in July and fresh criticism of the policy from the United Nations, the Council of Europe, human rights groups and senior religious figures, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Ministers are now facing questions over whether the Rwanda scheme will succeed in deterring Channel crossings after flagship laws to save the beleaguered policy finally cleared Parliament on Monday following a protracted battle with the House of Lords.
Conservative rebels have called for Sunak to reach the target of a best-case scenario of 2,000 deportees within the first six months for the policy to have any impact, given that around 30,000 would mean weekly flights carrying around 75 asylum seekers each to Rwanda.
However, the source said that after speaking to Mr Cleverly ministers’ expectations were lower.
“It’s not going to be full planes,” the source said.
If there were 20 to 30 asylum seekers on each flight, it would therefore take around 60 to 100 flights, or one every two to three days, for the Government to meet Conservative rebels’ test to hit a best-case scenario of 2,000 deportees within the first six months.
In March, the National Audit Office (NAO) estimated that each asylum seeker’s plane ticket to Rwanda would cost £11,000, meaning that flights of that scale could cost £220,000 to £330,000 before chartering, escorting, security and other costs are taken into account.
Responding, a source close to the Home Secretary told i: “We can’t comment on a second-hand version of a reported conversation.
“However we have now said publicly that the aim is for an ongoing regular rhythm of flights taking people to Rwanda, and with that, overall numbers sent to Rwanda, will continue accumulating over time.
“There is no set number for any given flight nor do numbers on one flight dictate numbers on the next.
“We have planned for a whole range of scenarios.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to provide a running commentary on numbers, which are operationally sensitive.
“The number of individuals removed per flight will depend on various operational factors, but the scheme is uncapped. If you come here illegally, you will not be allowed to stay.”
Sunak said the latest Channel tragedy to occur near the coast of France showed criminal gangs were exploiting the vulnerable and “packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies”, with around 100 aboard the small boat that got into difficulties at around 6am on Tuesday.
During a flight to Poland, Sunak told reporters the incident “underscores why you need a deterrent”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was an “absolute tragedy” and “a reminder that this vile trade run by criminal gangs costs lives”.
But “this Rwanda gimmick is not the way to stop it”, he said.
The European Court of Human Rights blocked flights to Rwanda, and is an institution of the Council of Europe, which urged the Prime Minister to abandon the Rwanda plan.
The council’s human rights commissioner, Michael O’Flaherty, said: “The United Kingdom Government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the bill’s effective infringement of judicial independence.”
The United Nations has also called on Sunak to rethink the scheme.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said: “The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention.”
Senior faith figures, including Justin Welby, have expressed “deep misgivings” about the Rwanda plan.
Mr Welby, the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, and senior voices from the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations said in a joint statement that the policy sets a “precedent” at home and abroad for “how we respond to the most vulnerable”, including modern slavery victims and children wrongly assessed as adults “whom we have a duty to protect”.
