Sunak says no Rwanda deportation flights before election as campaigns begin
Al Jazeera
A Labour victory in July 4 poll could scuttle controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to the African country.
No deportation flights to Rwanda will take place before a July 4 snap election, United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said, meaning a Labour Party victory could stop the controversial Conservative Party scheme from ever leaving the tarmac.
Sunak made the announcement on Thursday during the first full day of campaigning. The Labour Party currently maintains a commanding 20-point lead in opinion polls and has promised to scrap the deportation plan if it wins power.
Speaking at a campaign event on Thursday, Sunak cast the policy as central to the political race. In April, he had promised the flights would take off in 10 to 12 weeks. Mass arrests of potential deportees began earlier this month.
“We’ve started detaining people … the flights are booked for July, airfields on standby, the escorts are ready, the caseworkers are churning through everything, so all that is happening, and if I’m re-elected as your prime minister, those flights will go to Rwanda,” Sunak said.
The deportation plan has been a flagship policy for Sunak since he took office in October 2022. He has continued to champion it even after the UK Supreme Court in November ruled the plan unlawful on the grounds that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country.
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