During an appearance at the Commons liaison committee, the prime minister told MPs that “no one has promised flights by the summer” after he was pressed over the deterrent effect of the policy so far.
However, a Home Office source told “we are certainly working towards getting the flights off before the summer” with several news organisations interpreting that as a pledge to remove people under the scheme.
There remain some legal obstacles to the government’s implementation of its deal to detain and swiftly remove all people arriving illegally, with challenges currently going through the courts.
In response to questions from home affairs select committee chair, Diana Johnson, Sunak said: “No one has promised flights by the summer. No, that’s not what she [Braverman] said. What we’ve said is that we’ll start flights as soon as we can after legal proceedings have completed.
“Ultimately we need to let the legal process play out. It’s only after the legal process has been completed – now people may speculate on when that is likely to happen or not … that we can practically start the flights.”
The prime minister had previously indicated he was “confident” the government would fight off any legal challenges to the policy, which have prevented the flights taking off since the first was blocked by the European court of human rights last June.
On the visit to Rwanda, Braverman expressed her determination to “move quickly” with deportation flights. “We are working to make this happen as soon as possible. There is every possibility that we can move quickly if we get a good line of judgment in our favour.”
