Rishi Sunak says the first flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks “no ifs, no buts” in a Downing street press conference this morning.
The Prime Minister says MPs and peers will sit through the night if necessary to get the controversial bill through parliament.
Sunak said the government has an airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes and trained 500 people for the operation, calling it “one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home Office has carried out.”
The PM said he will work to establish “a drumbeat of multiple flights a month through the summer and beyond.”
He also insisted his government is complying with international obligations, saying “no foreign court will stop us from getting flights off”
He blamed Labour opposition to the scheme for the delays, which has been stuck in deadlock for the past four months as peers have blocked and amended the bill.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper denied these claims, saying Sunak could have passed the legislation sooner but “always looks for someone else to blame.”
She added “this is costing the taxpayer half-a-billion pounds for a scheme that will only cover 1 percent of asylum seekers.”
The scheme was originally introduced by then-prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022, but no flight has set off to Rwanda yet.
