Rwanda deportations: Will UK ditch European rights pact? Priti Patel says preparing for the next flight

The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the preparations for future flights and the next flights have already begun after the government's plan to fly asylum-seekers to Rwanda was blocked dramatically on Tuesday.

The British government is working on its plan of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. However, on Tuesday, there was a last-minute intervention by European judges as they had grounded the first plane minutes before it was due to depart.

Despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)'s intervention, the government appears to be firm in its decision of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. Patel told parliament that the government was committed to the policy. She said, "We will not be put off by the inevitable legal last-minute challenges nor we will allow mobs...to block removals."

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"We believe that we are fully compliant with our domestic and international obligations, and preparations for our future flights and the next flights have already begun," the interior minister said, adding that it cost 5 million pounds a day to accommodate the migrants.

The statement has sparked fury among Conservatives. Also, the United Nations' refugee chief has called the policy "catastrophic". On the other hand, the entire leadership of the Church of England labelled it as immoral and shameful.

Importantly, the ECHR is not related to the European Union, which Britain left in January 2020.

London and Rwanda agreed in April that tens of thousands of asylum seekers who arrived illegally in Britain will be sent to the East African country to have their claims processed. Rwanda said it also remained fully committed to the plan.

(With inputs from agencies)

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