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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Aletha Adu

Priti Patel's Rwanda deportation flight can go ahead as High Court blocks plea to stop it

The High Court has refused to block asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda next week.

Migrants due to be put on a one-way removal flight the east African nation, alongside campaign groups and a union, had asked judges to block their upcoming deportation flight.

But Judge Mr Justice Swift said there was a "material public interest" in allowing Priti Patel to be able to implement immigration control decisions.

He also said the risks in sending asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles away to one of the poorest countries in the world outlined by claimants were small and "in the realms of speculation".

The court heard 31 people were due on the first flight on Tuesday, with the Home Office planning to schedule more this year.

(Getty Images)

“I do not consider that the balance of convenience favours the grant of the generic relief," Mr Swift told the Court.

Shortly after the judgement, Mr Justice Swift gave claimants the permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

Sonya Sceats, chief executive of the charity Freedom From Torture, said: “We are disappointed that the court did not grant this injunction to ensure that nobody is sent to Rwanda before Boris Johnson’s cruel policy can be subjected to proper legal scrutiny.

A group of people are brought in to Dover, Kent after arriving in the UK on small boats (PA)

“But the fight is far from over. Caring people across Britain are incensed that this Government wants to send people seeking safety halfway across the world and are taking action."

During the first stage of legal action against the controversial policy began lawyers told the Court the system is "unsafe".

The UN's refugee agency warned the Home Office twice that the scheme was unlawful, the High Court was told.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel said after the ruling: “People will continue to try and prevent their relocation through legal challenges and last-minute claims but we will not be deterred in breaking the deadly people smuggling trade and ultimately save lives.

“Rwanda is a safe country and has previously been recognised for providing a safe haven for refugees – we will continue preparations for the first flight to Rwanda, alongside the range of other measures intended to reduce small boat crossings.”A senior Home Office source told the Mirror the department had long waited for such challenges and obstacles to their plans.

Earlier this week, Home Office workers told of their frustrations with the legal policy, but senior officials have urged them to use "proper channels" to raise any issues they have with the scheme, it is understood.

Officials who had issues with the scheme were encouraged to consider how their colleagues feel scooping babies, and children out of Channel waters, after loved ones had made the dangerous crossings, an insider told the Mirror.

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