A summary of today's developments
- The first flight taking asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was cancelled minutes before takeoff after the European Court of Human Rights issued last minute injunctions to stop the move.
- A total of seven individuals were believed to have been due to board the flight before the series of interventions were made. The plane, which stood ready on a Ministry of Defence runway at Boscombe Down in Amesbury, Wiltshire, was scheduled to takeoff at 9:30pm before being delayed to 10:30pm and then being cancelled.
- PA understands that the appeals were considered by an out of hours judge on papers, overruling the UK rulings. It is believed that at the present time there is not a route for the Home Office to appeal against the decision. Home secretary Priti Patel said she was disappointed the flight to Rwanda was not able to leave but would not be “deterred from doing the right thing”.
- Downing Street has defended the appointment of David Buttress as the government’s new cost of living tsar despite Buttress saying in January that Boris Johnson should resign. Buttress has also criticised Johnson and the Tories more widely, as well as arguing that the Rwanda deportation policy lacks common decency.
- Moves to sell off Channel 4 are not conservative but “destructive”, ministers have heard. Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley told the Commons: “We have more than three different types of public service broadcasters, government is proposing to abolish one of them. That is not conservative, that is destructive.” Conservative chair of the digital, media, culture and sport committee Julian Knight said the value of selling off the channel would be “marginal” to the Treasury, servicing the national debt for “72 hours”.
- Plaid Cymru said Wales and the rest of the UK should rejoin the EU single market due to the cost of living crisis.
The cancelled flight to Rwanda, which cost an estimated £500,000, had already been paid for from the public purse, a government source confirmed.
The UK government has also paid £120 million as a down payment on the Rwanda deal.
The government has declined to say how much it has paid in legal costs and has not said how much it expects to pay for future flights, accommodation and living costs for everyone sent to Rwanda.
Updated
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government must take responsibility for the failed flight and indicated that the government does not mind clashing with lawyers and the European courts.
There is no point in Govt blaming anyone else but themselves.
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) June 14, 2022
Ministers are pursuing a policy they know isn’t workable & that won’t tackle criminal gangs.
But they still paid Rwanda £120m & hired a jet that hasn’t taken off because they just want a row & someone else to blame.
James Wilson, deputy director of human rights organisation Detention Action, has given his reaction.
“Tonight is a night for the history books and the European Court of Human Rights, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has done what it was established to do.
“It rarely intervenes in the legal matters of member countries. That it has done so now shows how potentially dangerous the Government’s Rwanda removals policy is.
“The ECHR has recognised that no-one should be forced on a plane until our substantial legal challenge against this policy is heard by the High Court next month.”
Meanwhile, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said: “We are not deterred by these developments.
“Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work. The current situation of people making dangerous journeys cannot continue as it is causing untold suffering to so many.
“Rwanda stands ready to receive the migrants when they do arrive and offer them safety and opportunity in our country.”
A lawyer representing one of the asylum seekers who was on the cancelled flight to Rwanda has tweeted the following:
Excellent work by my colleagues and @AlasdairMack66. It would not have been so late if we had been allowed adequate time to represent our client. This flight was rushed & ill thought out. The gov’s plan B was always to blame lawyers and human rights laws for its own failings. https://t.co/trcSFG6TY2
— Jed Pennington (@jed_pennington) June 14, 2022
Here is the home secretary’s statement in full: “Earlier this year, I signed a world-leading migration partnership with Rwanda to see those arriving dangerously, illegally, or unnecessarily into the UK relocated to build their lives there.
“This will help break the people smugglers’ business model and prevent loss of life, while ensuring protection for the genuinely vulnerable.
“Access to the UK’s asylum system must be based on need, not on the ability to pay people smugglers. The demands on the current system, the cost to the taxpayer, and the flagrant abuses are increasing, and the British public have rightly had enough.
“I have always said this policy will not be easy to deliver and am disappointed that legal challenge and last-minute claims have meant today’s flight was unable to depart.
“It is very surprising that the European Court of Human Rights has intervened despite repeated earlier success in our domestic courts.
“These repeated legal barriers are similar to those we experience with other removals flights and many of those removed from this flight will be placed on the next.
“We will not be deterred from doing the right thing and delivering our plans to control our nation’s borders. Our legal team are reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparation for the next flight begins now.”
Home secretary Priti Patel said she was disappointed the flight to Rwanda was not able to leave but would not be “deterred from doing the right thing”.
She added: “Our legal team are reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparation for the next flight begins now.”
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Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: “We’re pleased the courts have ruled to stop this flight.
“It’s time for the government to stop this inhumane policy which is the basest of gesture politics and start to engage seriously with sorting out the asylum system so those who come to our country seeking refuge are treated fairly and according to the law.”
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “Whilst we are relieved to hear the flight to Rwanda did not take off as planned tonight it is clear that the Government remain determined to press on with this deal, leaving us to continue to witness the human suffering, distress, and chaos the threat of removal will cause with far reaching consequences for desperate people who are simply in need of safety.
The fact that the final flight could not take off is indicative of the inhumanity of the plan and the Government’s complete refusal to see the face behind the case.
“Those threatened with removal are people who have escaped war, persecution, torture, and violence - many of whom have only been prevented from flying due to individual legal interventions declaring it a clear breach of their human rights to do so.
“The Refugee Council has also had to directly intervene to stop young people being removed to Rwanda because they were falsely assessed as adults.
“Government claims that this deal would act as a deterrent to end the model of people-traffickers, have already been disproven with the numbers of people travelling across the channel almost doubling on the same time last year.”
Demonstrators at the front gate of MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire have vowed to stay put until they know that all the asylum seekers are off the plane.
One of the protestors, Hope, 25, an administrator from Wiltshire, said: “We’re all thrilled to hear they are being pulled off the flight. It was pretty emotional – there were some tears. We’re still apprehensive about what happens next and we’re not going anywhere until they’re all out of the base.”
The asylum seekers were brought in over a period of about four hours in vans with police outriders and police vehicles.
There are still large numbers of police officers guarding the base keeping an eye on the protestors.
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Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London and former Labour MP, has tweeted his reaction:
BREAKING: Tonight's inhumane deportation of asylum seekers to #Rwanda has been stopped by the ECtHR - minutes before it was due to depart.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) June 14, 2022
Sending people fleeing violence to a country thousands of miles away was already cruel and callous.
It's now potentially unlawful too.
PA understands that the appeals were considered by an out of hours judge on papers, overruling the UK rulings.
It is believed that at the present time there is not a route for the Home Office to appeal against the decision.
Flight to Rwanda will not be taking off tonight
No one will be deported to Rwanda from the UK tonight after the European Court of Human Rights issued last minute injunctions to stop the move, government sources have confirmed to the PA news agency.
The ECHR issued a series of last minute injunctions as the plane was about to take off from Wiltshire.
A total of seven individuals were believed to have been due to board the flight before the successful interventions were made.
Updated
🚨🚨🚨EVERYONE WILL BE TAKEN OFF THE FLIGHT!!
— Stop Deportations (@StpDeportations) June 14, 2022
NOONE WILL BE DEPORTED TO RWANDA TONIGHT!!
We have won today, but we will continue the fight tomorrow and against EVERY racist deportation ✊🏾✊🏾🔥🔥
The final remaining asylum seekers are understood to have been taken off the flight following a series of late legal interventions, ITV is reporting.
CONFIRMED - the flight will not be taking off after all asylum seekers were pulled off https://t.co/5WssT56mkS
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 14, 2022
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There remains confusion over the number of asylum seekers currently on board the flight from Wiltshire to Rwanda which is taking off shortly.
✈️Flight now expected about 10.30pm, from Boscombe Down military runway in Wiltshire.
— Molly Blackall (@mollyblackall) June 14, 2022
Cabin crew appear to have been boarding and people in high vis jackets have also been seen making their way onto the plane.
But still lots of confusion about the number of people on board.
The Care4Calais charity has tweeted that there is only one asylum seeker now on the flight:
BREAKING: ECHR has stopped two more people being sent to Rwanda.
— Care4Calais (@Care4Calais) June 14, 2022
Two more have had their tickets cancelled.
We are down to one on the flight.
There are reports that there are only three asylum seekers onboard the plane.
Sounds like we are now down to three people on the Rwanda deportation flight - that's an entire plane that has been chartered for just three people...
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) June 14, 2022
Updated
The first plane deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is scheduled to take off shortly.
The number of asylum seekers on board is unknown after a series of late legal interventions.
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Away from the scheduled flight to Rwanda, safeguards have been urged in parliament to prevent the UK Infrastructure Bank becoming a “plaything” of the Treasury.
Concerns have been raised at Westminster over proposals that would allow the exchequer to change the body’s activities set down in legislation, so-called Henry VIII powers.
Provisions would also allow the Treasury to amend what is defined by infrastructure.
A number of peers have called for these measures to be stripped out of the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill, amid worries over the operational independence of the institution from central government.
The House of Lords has been scrutinising the legislation, which will put the bank, currently operating on an interim basis following Brexit, on a legal footing.
Criticising the proposed powers for the Treasury in the bill, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Sharkey said: “They attempt to give the executive power to make policy before they have decided what that policy is.”
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Two asylum seekers due to be on a flight to Rwanda tonight have had their deportation from the UK postponed following last-ditch legal appeals, Sky News reports.
The European court of human rights has granted an urgent interim measure blocking the removal of one Iraqi detainee who was due to be deported. The court indicated to the UK government that the applicant should not be removed to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings. Another Iraqi detainee will also not be on the plane following an injunction from the upper tribunal preventing his departure. It is believed that the government may try to counter the appeals before the plane departs at around 9.30pm BST.
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The Rwandan government has hit back at “insulting” criticism of plans to relocate migrants from the UK.
Yolande Makolo, a spokesperson for the east African nation’s administration, said opponents were “missing the bigger picture” about efforts being made to improve the standard of living in the country and offer better opportunities so they do not lose their young people to “Europe”, as well as provide a safe haven for refugees.
Speaking to reporters in Kigali as the first deportation flight prepared to leave Britain, Makolo said: “There’s a point that we want to get across as Africans, that Africa should not be looked at as a place that creates problems and creates migrants and creates refugees.
“Of course we have conflict, but we also have pockets of safety and growth and opportunities, like in Rwanda as well.”
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A group of half a dozen demonstrators have gathered at the front gate of MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, holding placards with slogans such as: “Stop racist deportation” and “Justice for refugees”.
As soon as they arrived, three police officers were ordered to station themselves between the protestors and the gate.
One of the protesters, Hope, 25, an administrator from Wiltshire, said: “We’re here to let the government know that British people don’t stand for their racism.
“These people being deported are from countries like Iraq and Iran. They are being treated completely differently from, for example, the Ukrainian refugees.
“It’s cruel and discriminatory. What is waiting for them in Rwanda is more suffering.
“There have been lots of rights violations happening there.”
Seven vans have now entered the military base.
Protest at MOD Boscombe Down. pic.twitter.com/rhAwYILI7K
— steven morris (@stevenmorris20) June 14, 2022
Updated
First Rwanda flight could be grounded after late ECHR intervention
The European court of human rights has made a dramatic 11th-hour intervention into the government’s controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda that could ground the inaugural flight to the east African nation.
Lawyers for one of the asylum seekers due to fly at around 9.30pm have made a successful emergency application to the ECHR after exhausting applications to UK courts.
In an initial decision, a letter from the court has stated that the asylum seeker should not be removed on Tuesday evening.
Sources have claimed that the grounds cited apply to all asylum seekers facing removal, so all asylum seekers due to board the plane tonight can rely on this decision from the court.
Updated
Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of the human rights organisation Liberty and a former Labour shadow attorney general, said that a “substantive judicial review” of the government’s Rwanda policy is set to be considered in July.
She accused the government of going ahead with the plan before the court of appeal’s final verdict on the lawfulness of offshore processing, because of an ongoing “culture war”.
Updated
The latest on the legal wrangling from ITV’s Shehab Khan:
Now that the European Court for Human Rights has issued an injunction for one Rwanda flight passenger - it might be possible for each of the remaining six to apply for the same.
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) June 14, 2022
Was told decisions can come as late as when people are sitting in their seat moments before take off.
Lord Coaker, shadow spokesperson for home affairs and defence, branded the government’s Rwanda policy “unethical, unworkable and expensive, and flies in the face of British values”.
He argued, during a House of Lords debate on the policy, that it is not only “shameful” in a moral capacity, but that the Government putting an RAF base on standby just to facilitate the flight of around seven people would be costly for the taxpayer.
He asked: “What will the cost to the taxpayer be of each person?”
Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford replied that she did not believe it was moral to “stand by and allow people to drown” or to “line the pockets of criminal gangs who seek to exploit people trying to cross in small boats”.
She added: “In terms of the cost, I don’t think we can put a cost on the price of human lives. I think we need to do all we can to deter these perilous journeys.”
The funding per pupil for universal infant free school meals will increase, the government has announced.
The move was announced as supermarkets and sports organisations said they would support poorer pupils across the country this summer in partnership with the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food programme.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said there would be an £18 million rise in infant free school meals funding.
He said the move was because “we know that more can be done in the face of rising costs”.
Vans continue to arrive at MoD Boscombe Down in Salisbury.
Four or five vans have turned up so far.
The pattern has been established – each van is accompanied by a couple of police vehicles and two outriders.
They sweep past the main gate of MoD Boscombe Down and head to a second gate that gives directly on the airfield part of the site.
There’s a huge police presence here now – including dogs.
Passers-by keep stopping to ask if someone famous is coming. But no protestors.
It’s a lovely warm evening – local people are playing games and walking dogs on the field outside the base.
Just spotted, too, a couple of police officers playing catch as they stood by.
Updated
The European court of human rights has granted an injunction to stop one of the people on the Rwanda flight being deported tonight which brings the number down to six.
NEW: Number on the Rwanda flight now DOWN to 6 - comes after the move from the European Court of Human Rights to grant injunction which I just tweeted.
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) June 14, 2022
Updated
Moves to sell off Channel 4 are not conservative but “destructive”, ministers have heard.
Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) told the Commons: “We have more than three different types of public service broadcasters, government is proposing to abolish one of them. That is not conservative, that is destructive.”
Conservative chair of the digital, media, culture and sport committee Julian Knight said the value of selling off the channel would be “marginal” to the Treasury, servicing the national debt for “72 hours”.
Conservative MP Damian Collins said the idea that the status quo for Channel 4 can continue is “wrong” and warned it could “wither on the vine” without change.
Updated
During the afternoon, vans carrying asylum seekers with police escorts including outriders arrived at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
Civilian police were posted at the main entrance of the base, a testing and evaluation site for aircraft featuring the longest military runway in the UK.
There were no protestors at the site but some local people expressed concern that their community was being used for such an operation.
Beth Almond, a teacher, who was picking up her four-year-old child from a nursery opposite the entrance, said: “It’s a travesty that this is happening in our community.
“It’s so awful that we’re doing this to people who need our help.”
A member the armed services, who asked not to be named, said it was a “shameful” day for the country he served. “It’s a cruel policy. As a country we’re better than this, or used to be. It’s typical of this government doing something like this in secret. I’m disgusted by it.”
There was some sympathy for the government’s policy. Dave, a 65-year-old retired delivery driver, said: “It’s harsh but it’s got to be done.
“We’ve got to stop people coming over from France in those little boats and we’ve got to stop the people smugglers.”
Updated
Stop Deportations protesters have blocked the road at Colnbrook immigration removal centre near Heathrow airport in the hope of delaying this evening’s flight to Rwanda.
Two asylum seekers are believed to still be at the detention centre. Protesters locked themselves together with metal pipes and blockaded exits to the centre.
The Rwanda policy has been the subject of multiple legal challenges in the high court and court of appeal in the last few days.
Judges refused to grant an injunction to stop today’s flight, pending a full hearing on the legality of the policy.
However, successful challenges have been made on behalf of some individuals due to fly on Tuesday evening.
One activist said: “No one should be on this flight. No one should be deported under such racist and discriminatory policies. This flight represents the very worst of government legislation regarding refugees.”
🚨🚨People who are heading down please go to the back of Colnbrook IRC. A lot of cops there and activists need support and solidarity to stop the coaches and #StopRwanda!!
— Stop Deportations (@StpDeportations) June 14, 2022
High police presence and they are being aggressive. We need strength in numbers to resist borders & police! https://t.co/JFnAKEaM08 pic.twitter.com/sCuITXRBMX
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Johnson's anti-lawyer rhetoric 'misleading and dangerous', say Bar Council and Law Society
The Bar Council and the Law Society of England and Wales have issued a joint statement saying Boris Johnson’s lawyer-bashing rhetoric at cabinet this morning (see 10.36am) was “misleading and dangerous”.
"The Bar Council and Law Society of England and Wales together call on the Prime Minister to stop attacks on legal professionals who are simply doing their jobs." pic.twitter.com/DgErYdMpMk
— The Bar Council (@thebarcouncil) June 14, 2022
The president of the supreme court, Lord Reed, also issued what appeared to be a veiled reprimand to Johnson for his comment. (See 2.27pm.)
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On the PM programme Dominic Casciani, the BBC’s legal correspondent, said that just seven asylum seekers are now expected to be on the flight to Rwanda due to leave this evening. He said the group comprised: three Iranians, two Iraqi Kurds, one Albanian and one person from Vietnam.
That is all from me for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.
No 10 says adviser who called for PM to resign in January 'well-qualified' to be new cost of living tsar
Downing Street has defended the appointment of David Buttress as the government’s new cost of living tsar despite Buttress saying in January that Boris Johnson should resign. Buttress has also criticised Johnson and the Tories more widely, as well as arguing that the Rwanda deportation policy lacks common decency. (See 4.15pm and 4.36pm.)
The PM’s spokesperson said Buttress’s previous comments were “not relevant” to his new role. He went on:
As you would expect for any sort of appointment, the requisite due diligence is carried out. This instance is no different.
The individual you are referring to has a very clear task with regards to the cost of living as opposed to any other areas of government policy.
Anyone who looks at Mr Buttress’s CV can see that he is well-qualified to advise the government in this specific area. Those views are not relevant to the role he is doing.
Updated
Are attitudes to refugees changing? The Guardian is hosting a discussion on this topic on Thursday this week. Join Annie Kelly, the Guardian’s human rights journalist, as she chairs a panel of speakers that includes public law director for Duncan Lewis Solicitors, Toufique Hossain; Zahra Joya, the founder and editor-in-chief of Rukhshana Media; and Shabia Mantoo, a global spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency.
The event is taking place from 8pm to 9pm. You can book tickets here.
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Fifth asylum seeker today fails in court bid to prevent deportation to Rwanda
A fourth person has had their bid to prevent their removal to Rwanda rejected by the high court, PA Media reports. PA says:
In a hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Justice Swift refused the application of a Kurdish man against his removal.
The judge also refused him permission to appeal.
Including the supreme court hearing (see 12.42pm and 2.27pm), there are now five asylum seekers who have lost court hearings today which they hoped might suspend deportation proceedings.
Updated
Wales and rest of UK should rejoin EU single market, says Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru has said Wales and the rest of the UK should rejoin the EU single market. Speaking during first minister’s questions in the Welsh parliament, Adam Price, the Plaid leader, said:
The cost-of-living crisis and the challenges we’re facing in every sector of the economy and in every part of the UK bar London arguably has a very simple practical solution which is returning to the principle at the heart of ‘Securing Wales’s Future’, the white paper Plaid Cymru and the Welsh government jointly published, which is re-joining now the single market and the customs union.
Price urged Mark Drakeford, the Labour first minister, to make this argument to Boris Johnson and to Keir Starmer. Starmer’s Brexit policy was “vague”, Price said.
Drakeford was non-committal, but accepted that being in the single market would remove barriers to trade.
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
Updated
Downing Street would not confirm the flight for Rwanda would depart from the Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down airfield in Wiltshire. At the afternoon lobby briefing, asked why the flight was leaving from a military base rather than a civilian airport, the prime minister’s official spokesman said:
I’m still not going to get into commenting on operational matters like that.
In general, we need to plan these flights so that they are done in a secure manner, so that they are done properly and that we can plan properly. This is an issue that needs to be done properly and we will plan as such.
Updated
Rwanda is committed to helping asylum seekers deported from the UK rebuild their lives in a new country, a spokeswoman for the government of the African state has said. As PA Media reports, as the first deportation flight prepares to leave Britain, Yolande Makolo said she did not believe that being sent to her country should be regarded as a “punishment” by the migrants. PA says:
Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kigali, Makolo said Rwanda had entered into its controversial arrangement with the UK for “the right reasons”.
She said they expected to receive “thousands” of migrants over the lifetime of the partnership which will see the UK invest £120m in growth and development in Rwanda as well as picking up the re-settlement costs.
“Rwanda has a strong record of providing safety for those in danger. Tomorrow, when the first flight lands here in Kigali, the new arrivals will be welcomed and will be looked after and supported to make new lives here,” she said.
“We will provide support with their asylum applications, including legal support and translation services. We will provide decent accommodation and look after all their essential needs.
“Rwanda has a record of caring for refugees and welcoming migrants and will be able to provide not just a safe haven these people are looking for, but the opportunity to build new lives here and develop alongside Rwandans.”
Makolo rejected a complaint by the archbishop of Canterbury that the policy was “immoral”, insisting Rwanda wanted to help tackle the global migration crisis by undermining the activities of the people traffickers encouraging asylum seekers to make the dangerous Channel crossing.
“We don’t think it’s immoral to offer a home to people,” she said.
Some migrants have reportedly said they would rather kill themselves rather than be sent to country amid concerns over its human rights record under President Paul Kagame.
However, Makolo said such concerns reflected “misconceptions” about Africa which do not “reflect the reality”.
“We do not consider living in Rwanda a punishment ... we do our best to provide a conducive environment for Rwandans to develop and for anyone else who comes to live here with us,” she said.
Updated
David Buttress seems to be spending the afternoon deleting his tweets. (See 4.15pm.) But Mikey Smith from the Daily Mirror has been preserving more of them for posterity. There is quite a hoard.
Oh it's just a treasure trove. pic.twitter.com/MyveEVrNwB
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) June 14, 2022
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) June 14, 2022
And on topical matters... pic.twitter.com/dvobs4UcRT
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) June 14, 2022
Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the “incredible daring and bravery” of armed forces personnel on the 40th anniversary of the end of the Falklands war. Speaking at a service to mark the anniversary at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Johnson said said:
The first thing is remember what an incredible thing it was that they achieved back in 1982. To make an opposed landing, to take back territory in the way that they did. The incredible daring and bravery of those young men and women. And we salute that - we remember that today.
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Fourth asylum seeker today fails in court bid to prevent deportation to Rwanda
In the high court, Mr Justice Swift has today refused a third person’s bid to prevent their deportation to Rwanda, PA Media reports. PA says:
The man, who had travelled from Iran to the UK with his 21-year-old son, had asked the high court to prevent his removal due to his mental health and right to a family life.
However, refusing the application, Swift said: “I accept the prejudice to the claimant will include distress due to being separated from his son.”
Earlier Swift dismissed legal bids to halt deportation from an Iranian Kurd (see 2.07pm) and from a man from Vietnam (see 2.33pm).
Separately, the supreme court has also rejected an appeal from a fourth asylum seeker trying to halt deportation. (See 12.42pm and 2.27pm.)
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How government's new cost of living tsar called for Johnson's resignation in January
The government has appointed David Buttress, the former chief executive of Just Eat, as its new cost of living tsar. He is supposed to work “in partnership with the private sector to identify, develop and promote new and existing business-led initiatives that support people with rising costs of living – from discounted prices or product offers to the expansion of business-run programmes”.
Labour sources have pointed out that in January Buttress was calling for Boris Johnson’s resignation on Twitter.
Why is it that the worse people often rise to the highest office and stay there!? For me, it isn’t important what job you do or your title, but it is vitally important why you do the job and what you achieve.
— David Buttress 🇺🇦 (@davidjusteat) January 11, 2022
Boris has to go, he just has to. You can’t survive judgment like this.
My colleague Jessica Elgot has posted some more from Buttress’s back catalogue.
David Buttress sure seems to think the government has a good grip https://t.co/yY8MBZmD7z
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 14, 2022
Glad to see the PM isn't afraid to appoint his critics to high office https://t.co/mA8hXmKCOx
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 14, 2022
In summary - Boris Johnson’s new cost of living tsar has previously called for him to quit, and said PM is “fast and loose” with British economy and that he is not “blessed” with “intelligence or integrity” https://t.co/dUXadQDpGd
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 14, 2022
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Johnson floats prospect of UK pulling out of ECHR to ensure Rwandan deportations can continue
Here is the full quote from Boris Johnson on leaving the European convention on human rights. He was asked whether, in light of all the legal challenges that the Rwanda deportation policy was facing, it was time for Britain to now leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) to reduce the government being obstructed by the courts. He replied:
It’s certainly the case that ... the legal world is very good at picking up ways of trying to stop the government from upholding what we think is a sensible law.
We’re trying to make a distinction between legal pathways to the UK, which we support - we want people to be able to come here in fear of their lives, but we want them to do it legally and safely, and that’s why we have all the safe and legal routes that are open to people. What we want to do is show the people traffickers that they’re breaking the law, they’re risking people’s lives and it won’t work anyway.
Now, will it be necessary to change some laws to help us as we go along? It may very well be. And all these options are under constant review.
This implies that the idea of withdrawing from the European convention on human rights is more of an option that Johnson is toying with at this stage than a proposal to which he is firmly committed. Johnson, like many politicians, is fond of floating ideas to see what reaction they provoke (particularly if they are likely to excite the Tory papers and infuriate the left).
The government is already committed to legislating this session for a bill of rights that would limit the extent to which decisions of the European court of human rights (which adjudicates on the convention) are automatically followed by UK courts. But withdrawing from the convention would be a much more radical, and provocative move.
Theresa May floated the idea in 2016, when she was home secretary (and angry about the way the convention limited her ability to deport foreign criminals). Her proposals was not adopted by colleagues, but Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, said the ECHR was “unfinished business” as Britain left the EU, and during the withdrawal negotiations the UK was at one point reluctant to promise that it would remain party to the convention post-Brexit.
Here is the clip.
.@Boris Johnson suggests the UK could pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights to force through Rwanda deportations
— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) June 14, 2022
'Will it be necessary to change some laws to help us [avoid legal challenges] as we go along? It may very well be', the PM said https://t.co/Rt0gq94xkT pic.twitter.com/gQa1pO6ih2
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Boris Johnson has floated the prospect of the UK pulling out of the European convention on human rights if that turns out to be necessary to allow the Rwanda deportation policy to continue, the Mail’s Jason Groves reports.
Boris Johnson asked whether it may be necessary to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights to restrict legal challenges to the Rwanda policy, replies: 'Will it be necessary to change some laws as we go along? It may very well be'
— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) June 14, 2022
Johnson was recording a pooled interview this afternoon. I will post the full quote when I get it.
Second asylum seeker today fails in bid to get high court to block deportation to Rwanda tonight
A Vietnamese man has failed to persuade a high court judge to halt his removal to Rwanda, PA Media reports. PA says:
Mr Justice Swift refused his application for a “stay of removal” at a high court hearing in London.
The man’s case was the second dealt with by the judge on Tuesday. (See 2.07pm.)
A barrister representing the man told the judge that he had claimed asylum after receiving “death threats from loan sharks” in Vietnam.
Alex Grigg complained of a “procedural failure” and argued the man had not been given a “reasonable opportunity” to make representations.
Updated
Patel accepts asylum seekers sent to Rwanda can return if courts later decide policy unlawful, supreme court says
Here is a link to the supreme court ruling this morning that rejected a last-minute bid by an asylum seeker to avoid being on tonight’s flight to Rwanda.
The Supreme Court has refused an urgent Permission to Appeal application on the Rwanda appeal. Full details of the decision are available on the Court's website https://t.co/OsdXWh6uXO
— UK Supreme Court (@UKSupremeCourt) June 14, 2022
And here is an extract from the statement, delivered by Lord Reed, the president of the court. He said an important factor was the disclosure from the Home Office that, if the deportation policy is subsequently found to be unlawful (when its legality is determined at a judicial review hearing later this year), it would try to ensure the asylum seeker can return to the UK. Reed said:
One related matter which was of concern to this court was whether, if the appellant were to succeed at the hearing proposed for July in his challenge to the lawfulness of his removal to Rwanda, he would then be returned to this country, where it would follow that his asylum claim ought properly to be dealt with. In that regard, the government legal department have informed the court, on behalf of the home secretary, as follows:
“If the high court were to make an order that [Priti Patel, the home secretary] should use her best endeavours to ensure the appellant’s return to the UK from Rwanda following a trial, and there were no stay of any such judgment, then [Patel] would seek to comply with that order. There are arrangements for return of relocated individuals in article 11 of the [memorandum of understanding] which provides that: ‘Following a request made by the United Kingdom, Rwanda will take all reasonable steps in accordance with international human rights standards to make a relocated individual available for return to the United Kingdom should the United Kingdom be legally obliged to facilitate that person’s return.’”
In the light of that assurance, and for the reasons I have explained, the court refuses permission to appeal.
The judgment also includes a sentence that reads as a veiled rebuke to ministers like Boris Johnson (see 10.36am) who have criticised lawyers taking on asylum cases. Reed said:
In bringing that application, the appellant’s lawyers were performing their proper function of ensuring that their clients are not subjected to unlawful treatment at the hands of the government.
Updated
Four people due to be on a planned deportation flight to Rwanda on Tuesday have brought a legal challenge to the high court, PA Media reports. PA goes on:
Mr Justice Swift has dismissed the first high court application of the day from a person to not be removed to Rwanda on Tuesday evening’s flight.
The man, an Iranian Kurd who had suffered PTSD in Turkey while travelling to the UK, had brought a claim asking not to be removed on the upcoming flight due to his mental health and his relationship with his sister in the UK.
However, in a short ruling on Tuesday morning, Swift refused to grant interim relief.
He said: “The secretary of state was entitled to reach the decisions she did.”
Swift said that the first man’s removal to Rwanda will not alter the quality or nature of the relationship with his UK-resident sister, after the man bringing the claim argued deportation would infringe on his right to a family life.
He said: “Since 2010 it appears that the claimant and his sister have maintained regular contact, perhaps even daily, via telephone.”
The judge added: “I note that the claimant will be able to maintain the relationship with his sister in the same way that relationship has been conducted since 2010.”
Swift also said that the man will have access to healthcare in Rwanda.
“The application for interim relief is refused,” he concluded.
Updated
Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
Updated
These are from ITV’s Paul Brand, who is in Rwanda reporting on the deportation policy.
From what I am witnessing as a journalist here in Rwanda, this is not a free country. People we have interviewed have already been reported to the government for participating in our reports. Journalists cannot operate freely here, and we are lucky to be international media.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 14, 2022
This is part of the concern human rights groups have about the deal with Rwanda. Will asylum seekers sent here be free and safe? Especially given they have often fled repression elsewhere?
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 14, 2022
And who will tell us what is happening to them if Rwandan journalists are gagged?
The picture is nuanced and quite honestly as an international journalist we don’t see everything. Rwanda does not feel like an oppressive country to visitors, but those you speak to quietly do report issues around freedom of speech and political opposition.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 14, 2022
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, echoing the point made by Liz Truss in her interviews this morning (see 9.41am), the PM’s spokesperson defended the decision to spend a reported £500,000 on chartering a flight that could end up taking just a handful of asylum seekers to Rwanda tonight. While not confirming the cost of the flight, the spokesperson said:
The broader point is that you will know the cost of the current approach to the UK taxpayer is £1.5bn every year already, we spend almost £5m a day accommodating asylum seekers in hotels in this country, so this is about finding a long-term solution to a longstanding problem.
The spokesperson also said that Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, made a presentation at cabinet about the potential impact of the rail strikes planned for next week. The spokesperson said:
The transport secretary said the government would remain on the side of the public, adding that strikes would also be bad for rail workers as it risked driving away customers when numbers were already down since the pandemic
He highlighted that median pay of rail workers was significantly higher than other public sector workers, with nurses receiving a median of £31,000 compared to £59,000 for train drivers.
He said the strikes also risk disrupting exams at a time when schoolchildren had already had their education significantly affected during the pandemic.
‘Reasonable’ to suggest PM may have broken code over Partygate, says ethics adviser
And here is my colleague Jessica Elgot’s story on Lord Geidt’s evidence to MPs this morning.
Airlines and ministers both underestimated post-Covid capacity problems at airports, MPs told
The aviation industry and the government must “shoulder the responsibility” for the chaos suffered by airline travellers, MPs were told. As PA Media reports, Sue Davies, head of consumer rights at consumer group Which?, told the Commons business committee this morning the cancellation of thousands of flights and long queues at airports in recent months were caused by the impact of staffing shortages being “underestimated”. She said:
Both the industry and the government need to shoulder the responsibility for the chaos that we’ve seen ...
Particularly appallingly, we’ve been hearing from lots of people who have just had very little information about actually what’s happening on the ground.
The airlines and the government were encouraging people to travel again, and we think they’ve just underestimated the capacity issues, and the shortages both within the airlines and the airport services, including baggage handlers.
Updated
Jonathan Powell, who as chief of staff for Tony Blair played a leading role in facilitating the Good Friday agreement and subsequent peace developments in Northern Ireland, says Boris Johnson is lying about the NI protocol. He explains why in a Twitter thread starting here.
Johnson is lying when he claims the bill to kill the NI Protocol is designed to save the Good Friday Agreement. A thread explaining why he is trying to mislead and why this bill in fact threatens the peace process 1/10
— Jonathan Powell (@jnpowell1) June 14, 2022
And here is one of his conclusions.
The tragedy is there is an obvious solution.The EU is offering the equivalent of a green lane for goods destined for NI.That is what the DUP say they want – the Sainsbury’s test. All the ideological demands, ECJ jurisdiction, are for Johnson and the ERG not for anyone in NI. 9/10
— Jonathan Powell (@jnpowell1) June 14, 2022
Earlier I posted some lines from Lord Geidt’s appearance at the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee. (See 11.08am.) Here is the story on the hearing from PA Media filed once the hearing was over.
Boris Johnson’s independent ethics adviser has refused to deny he considered resigning over the prime minister’s response to being fined for attending a party in Downing Street during lockdown.
Lord Geidt told the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee he had felt “frustration” and that the option of resignation was always “on the agenda”.
However, he said that he did not believe there was ever a point when he formed “a single direct proposition” in his own mind.
Asked about the report that he threatened to quit, Geidt acknowledged that “the commentariat” had picked up on his “frustration” at that time.
“I am glad that the prime minister was able to respond to my report and in doing so addressed aspects of the things about which I was clearly frustrated,” he told the committee.
“Resignation is one of the rather blunt but few tools available to the adviser. I am glad that my frustrations were addressed in the way that they were.”
Pressed by Labour MP John McDonnell if he had contemplated resignation, Geidt said: “There are few instruments available to an independent adviser and [it is] important to consider what is going to work best in the interest, not of me, but preserving the integrity of the system .... I haven’t given you a direct answer but I don’t think there was ever a single, direct proposition in my own mind.”
McDonnell replied: “I am going to take that answer as at least it was on the agenda.”
The SNP MP Patrick Grady should be suspended from the Commons for two days for breaching parliament’s sexual misconduct policy, a report by the Independent Expert Panel has said.
In a statement to MPs a few minutes ago Grady apologised unreservedly. He said that he was “profoundly sorry” for what he did, that he had learnt significant lessons through the disciplinary process and that this behaviour would never happen again.
Government schedules rail strike debate for tomorrow in move to encourage unions back to negotiating table
In the Commons Mark Spencer, the leader of the Commons, has just announced that tomorrow’s business in the house has been changed to allow for a debate relating to the train strikes next week.
But, in response to questions from opposition MPs, Spencer refused to say what the motion would be. He said the motion would be published later today. But he said he hoped the debate would put pressure on the unions “to come back to the negotiating table” ahead of the strike.
Updated
Supreme court rejects last-minute legal bid to stop asylum seeker being deported to Rwanda
The supreme court has rejected an appeal bid over a judge’s refusal to block the removal of an asylum seeker due to be deported on the first flight from the UK to Rwanda, PA Media reports.
A panel of three justices refused permission to an individual to challenge the court of appeal’s ruling on Monday, which upheld the earlier decision of a high court judge not to grant an injunction to remove the man from the first scheduled flight to Rwanda today.
Giving brief reasons for the decision, the court’s president, Lord Reed, said there had been an “assurance” that, if the government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda was found to be unlawful, steps would be taken to bring back any migrants flown to the east African nation in the interim.
Updated
Johnson claims his cabinet more pro-migrant than many previous ones because of ministers' backgrounds
Talk TV has the full clip of Boris Johnson addressing cabinet this morning and, for anyone interested in political iconography, it is well worth watching. Presumably No 10 is now increasingly inviting in the cameras to record Johnson’s opening pep talk to his ministers (see 10.36am) because broadcasters are more likely to use a clip like this, from cabinet, than a clip of Johnson saying the same thing to journalist.
But there is something very politburo about the whole set-up. While Johnson is delivering his spiel, cabinet ministers are reduced to appearing like extras on a film set, and not all of them seem happy about that. At one point Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, looks as if he would rather be undergoing root canal surgery.
The full clip also shows Johnson claiming that his cabinet is more pro-migration than many of its predecessors (because of the heritage of several key ministers). Having claimed that he loves lawyers, and that there are many lawyers around the cabinet table, Johnson goes on:
There are even more people around this table who aren’t lawyers ... but whose immediate ancestors came to this county to seek a new life here, many of us [Johnson’s great grandfather was a Turkish politician who sought refuge in Britain] whose ancestors came in fear of their lives and fleeing persecution.
This is a government unlike many others in the way we represent that tradition of this country, that tradition of welcoming people, that tradition of allowing talent to come to this county.
And what is happening with the attempt to undermine the Rwanda policy is that they are, I’m afraid, undermining everything that we are trying to do to support safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK and to oppose the illegal and dangerous routes.
In fact, many of those opposed to the Rwanda policy argue that those crossing the Channel on small boats don’t, realistically, have the option of finding a safe and legal means of applying for asylum in the UK. In their letter in the Times this morning (see 9.04am), the Church of England bishops say safe routes are exactly what they are calling for.
Boris Johnson has said the Government will not be “deterred or abashed” by criticism of the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) June 14, 2022
Watch TalkTV live 🔸 https://t.co/GAhbvZS8pF pic.twitter.com/iD9QpVUzF0
Updated
The supreme court is considering whether to hear an appeal against a decision by the court of appeal on Monday to dismiss a challenge over the first Rwanda deportation flight, PA Media reports. The matter is being considered by the court’s president, Lord Reed, and two other supreme court justices, who will announce their decision at 12.15pm.
Back at the Nicola Sturgeon press conference, the first minister says she will give her speech to MSPs giving details of how she intends to hold a second independence refernedum without backing from Westminster (see 11.22am) before the summer recess.
Q: The outlook for an independent Scotland would be difficult. How many years of economic pain would it have to endure before it is able to stand on its own feet?
Sturgeon says Scotland is struggling as things are now. She says the fate of Scotland will be determined by the decisions it takes.
Here is the footage of Boris Johnson addressing cabinet this morning. (See 10.36am.)
Boris Johnson has said the Government will not be “deterred or abashed” by criticism of the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) June 14, 2022
Watch TalkTV live 🔸 https://t.co/GAhbvZS8pF pic.twitter.com/iD9QpVUzF0
Sturgeon concedes there will be customs and regulatory issues for trade with England if independent Scotland joins single market
Q: Can you confirm that there would have to be a trade border under independence?
Sturgeon says she is not going to repeat the mistakes made by Boris Johnson.
I am not going to repeat the mistakes of Boris Johnson and pretend the implications of the decisions we take don’t exist. If we are in the single market, and the rest of the UK is outside the single market, then yes, there are issues in terms of regulatory and customs requirements that need to be met.
What I’m saying is not that these challenges don’t exist but these challenges can be managed in a way that doesn’t present disadvantages to our businesses.
And of course, what the benefits of that situation is the ability to trade within a market that is seven times bigger than the UK.
Asked again if there would be a trade border, Sturgeon says:
I think I’ve said very clearly there will be customs and regulatory issues on trade if we are in the single market.
Sturgeon says she will be 'honest' about border problems Scottish independence would pose for goods
Q: Won’t independence inevitably lead to a hard border in Britain. The Scotland/England border will be the EU border, so there will have to be one.
Sturgeon says the government will publish later a paper, or two papers, addressing these trade and border issues.
She says the UK government never levelled with people about the implications of Brexit.
She says there is no issue with people; no one is suggesting abandoning the common travel area. But she concedes there is an issue with goods.
The EU market place is seven or eight times the size of the UK market place, she says.
She says the government will have to set out a plan for dealing with these issues.
The UK government’s problem has been that it has not been “honest” about Brexit trade issues, she says. She suggests she will not make the same mistake.
Q: How could you hold a second independence referendum without approval from London?
Sturgeon says she is not going to set that out now. She says the work on this is still under way. And she is not meant to disclose legal advice, she says.
But, she says, Scotland is dealing with a PM who does not respect the law, or any of the norms that underpin democracy.
Updated
You can watch the Sturgeon press conference here.
Watch live: Building a new Scotland.
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) June 14, 2022
First Minister @NicolaSturgeon holds a press conference from Bute House, Edinburgh.#ANewScotland https://t.co/yhJOgoD37Z
Sturgeon is now taking questions.
She says she is intent on navigating a way through Westminister’s opposition to a second independence referendum.
She is holding the press conference with Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens. The Scottish Greens, like the SNP, are pro-independence, and the two parties have a cooperation agreement, which means they are in a quasi-coalition (although the cooperation agreement specifically stresses that they are not calling it a coalition). Harvie is a minister in the administration.
Sturgeon says an independent Scotland will not be a one-party state.
Updated
Sturgeon has also published a Scottish government paper arguing that, as a small nation, Scotland would be better off independent. It’s here.
Updated
Sturgeon says she will set plan soon for holding second independence referendum without backing of Westminster
Nicola Sturgeon is now speaking at the event where she is publishing the first of what will be a series of Scottish government papers making the case for independence.
She said she would be proposing a means for Scotland to hold a second independence referendum without permission from the UK government.
Under the devolution legislation, a referendum of this kind would be a reserved matter and the Scottish government would need a section 30 order for it to be allowed to go ahead lawfully. This is what happened ahead of the referendum in 2014.
She said an independence referendum would have to be lawful. And she said she would soon make a statement to the Scottish parliament explaining in more detail her strategy.
These are from my colleague Severin Carrell.
BREAKING @NicolaSturgeon says @scotgov will propose #indyref2 without a #section30 order - she claims it will be lawful
— Severin Carrell (@severincarrell) June 14, 2022
She will set out that strategy in #holyrood “very soon”
— Severin Carrell (@severincarrell) June 14, 2022
And here is the clip.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says a way forward to a Scottish independence vote should be found with or without the backing of Westminster
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) June 14, 2022
Live updates: https://t.co/MAynP7lmS8 pic.twitter.com/z1he23c2Y9
Updated
Geidt challenged by MPs to explain why he has not tried to launch inquiry into claims PM's Partygage activities broke ministerial code
Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, has been giving evidence to the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee. Recently No 10 announced changes to the ministerial code that appeared to beef up the powers of the adviser - although there has been a debate about whether or not these changes are cosmetic, and Boris Johnson did not explicitly agree to the recommendation from the Committee on Standards in Public Life saying the adviser should be able to initiate (without getting permission from the PM first) inquiries into allegations about ministers breaking the ministerial code.
Geidt has been talking up the significance of these changes, but the committee does not seem to be particularly impressed. Here are some of the key points so far.
- Geidt claimed that in practice he now does have the power to initiate an inquiry into alleged breaches of the ministerial code. This is from Catherine Haddon from the Institute for Government.
Geidt says that he feels he can initiate inquiries.
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 14, 2022
Says that proof of that is that none of the inquiries he has wanted to initiate has been refused.
Argues he thinks the power is increased.
- But Geidt struggled to give a convincing explanation as to why he has not launched in investigation into allegations that Suella Braverman, the attorney general, leaked information about her legal advice about the Northern Ireland protocol bill. Leaking government legal advice is a serious matter. But Geidt seemed surprised by the suggestion he should be investigating this, and said he had not given it proper thought.
Committee now pressing on why he has not then looked into why legal advice on NIP was leaked.
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 14, 2022
Seems Geidt not quite prepared for committee thinking that would be his remit.
- Geidt confirmed that he has not asked the PM to agree to an inquiry into claims that Boris Johnson broke the ministerial code over Partygate. The committee chair, William Wragg (Con), implied that it was not a coincidence that the revision of the ministerial code giving Geidt new powers was only announced two days after the publication of the Sue Gray report, which effectively draw a line under the Partygate controversy. This is from LBC’s Theo Usherwood.
William Wragg asks why after-the-event has Lord Geidt got new powers to initiate an investigation into the PM.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) June 14, 2022
Lord Geidt says he is glad he has got the new powers.
Lord Geidt then tells John McDonnell he never asked the PM to launch an investigation.
And these are from Haddon.
McDonnell asks whether even under previous powers he could at least have asked?
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 14, 2022
Geidt again refers to the need for PM to 'put into the public square' his own view on breaching the code.
Geidt seems to be arguing that he doesn't need to investigate if the PM makes his own judgement on whether the PM has broken the code.
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 14, 2022
Geidt now seems to be saying that it was only when the Gray report came out that Geidt was able to make a judgement on how it affected his role.
— Dr Catherine Haddon (@cath_haddon) June 14, 2022
And then all he could do was pressure the PM to speak to the breach of the code.
'that matter has now passed into the record'
Johnson criticises lawyers opposing deportations to Rwanda, implying they are 'abetting work of criminal gangs'
Cabinet meetings take place in private. But in recent weeks No 10 has been letting the cameras in so that pictures are available (something that only used to happen when a new cabinet met after a reshuffle), and Boris Johnson’s opening remarks have been filmed, or written up by PA Media, so cabinet becomes a media event.
It happened again this morning, and Johnson used his opening remarks to defend the Rwanda deportation policy. Here are the main points.
- Johnson criticised lawyers opposing deportations to Rwanda, implying they were abetting the work of the people smugglers. Yesterday Johnson claimed that he had “utmost respect for the legal profession”. (His previous wife was a lawyer.) But today he reverted to his more usual lawyer-bashing, saying that the Rwanda policy was facing a “huge amount of attack”, coming “not least from lawyers”. He went on:
What is happening with the attempt to undermine the Rwanda policy is that they are, I’m afraid, undermining everything that we’re trying to do to support safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK and to oppose the illegal and dangerous routes. That is what we are trying to do, that is the essence of our policy.
And I think that what the criminal gangs are doing and what those who effectively are abetting the work of the criminal gangs are doing is undermining people’s confidence in the safe and legal system, undermining people’s general acceptance of immigration.
Given that the only way people facing deportation to Rwanda can halt the process is by going to court, it is hardly surprising that lawyers play a prominent role in this process. In doing so, they are doing their job.
- Johnson said the government would not be deterred by criticism of the policy - even from Prince Charles. He did not mention the prince by name, but he clearly referred to him, saying:
We are not going to be in any way deterred or abashed by some of the criticism that is being directed upon this policy, some of it from slightly unexpected quarters. We are going to get on and deliver.
- He claimed the government was working with “humanity and compassion” to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats. He said:
It is not reasonable to try to turn boats around at sea in the English Channel, those waters are very dangerous.
We have to work within the scope of common humanity and compassion, that’s the right thing to do.
But we have to interrupt the business model of the gangs and what we see now is our policy, the economic and migration partnership with Rwanda, that we have engaged upon under a huge amount of attack.
From my colleague Aubrey Allegretti
A Tory MP unimpressed with Jacob Rees-Mogg’s latest message to their WhatsApp group: “The man who wants to know which civil servants are in the office doesn’t want people to know which MPs are.” pic.twitter.com/epf0F2Amn1
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) June 14, 2022
Truss claims near-empty flight to Rwanda for asylum seekers would still be 'value for money'
And here are some more lines from Liz Truss’s interviews this morning.
- Truss, the foreign secretary, claimed that by the end of the year the number of asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda would be “significant”. But she would not put a number on what that meant.
- She claimed that tonight’s flight would be “value for money” - even though she also conceded it might be contain just a handful of asylum seekers. (See 9.04am.) According to some reports, the flight will cost around £500,000. Truss would not confirm this, or say what the actual cost would be, but she said it would be “value for money” because the flights would deter people from crossing the Channel in small boats. “It is value for money,” she said, adding: “We want to stop these costs [the costs of small boat Channel crossings] both in monetary cost but also in human misery.”
- She claimed there was no reason why the EU should react negatively to the legislation published yesterday allowing the UK to disapply large parts of the Northern Ireland protocol. She explained:
Our solution doesn’t make the EU any worse off. We continue to protect the single market, we’re supplying the EU with data, we’ve got strong enforcement to make sure companies aren’t violating the rules.
So there is absolutely no reason why the EU should react in a negative way to what we’re doing.
- She said she was doing all she could to secure the release of the two Britons sentenced to death after being captured fighting against the Russians in Ukraine. But she said she wanted to do what was “most effective”, and would not discuss her strategy in public. She explained:
I am doing everything I can in the best way I can, in the way that I judge is most effective, to deliver these people’s release. I will do whatever is necessary to secure their release
“I’ve assured the families I will do what is most effective to secure their release and I’m not going to go into our strategy live on air.
She said dealing with the Ukrainians on this was the “best route”.
- She claimed that when she said in February she would support Britons going to Ukraine to fight the Russian invaders, she also said the travel advice was that people should not go there. On the Today programme she was asked if the fate of the two Britons sentenced to death had made her reflect on the wisdom of what she said. In reply, she claimed she was clear at the time that the travel advice said people should not go to Ukraine. When her actual words at the time were put to her, she replied:
I also said that the travel advice was not to go to Ukraine.
In fact, in the original interview in which she said she would back Britons going to fight in Ukraine, she said nothing about government travel advice saying this would be a mistake. The government clarified its position subsequently.
Updated
According to the BBC’s Mark Easton, just seven asylum seekers are now due to be on the flight to Rwanda leaving tonight.
Just 7 asylum seekers are now due to be flown to Rwanda on a chartered @ukhomeoffice removal flight tonight. The 200-seater 767 is likely to have cost £0.5m but Ministers say it is important to establish the principle.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 14, 2022
Updated
Truss hits back at bishops saying Rwanda deportation policy 'shames Britain', saying they have no alternative plan
Good morning. This evening the first flight is due to leave the UK carrying asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda. It is the first flight scheduled under a policy announced earlier this year and described by Tom Pursglove, a Home Office minister, in the Commons on Monday as a “global first” and part of a “world-leading migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda” that would “change the way we collectively tackle illegal immigration”.
There is a different assessment of the merits of the policy in the Times this morning where all 25 bishops and archbishops sitting in the House of Lords have signed a letter saying this is an “immoral policy” that “shames Britain”. Here is the letter in full.
Whether or not the first deportation flight leaves Britain today for Rwanda, this policy should shame us as a nation. Rwanda is a brave country recovering from catastrophic genocide. The shame is our own, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to treat asylum seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have for centuries. Those to be deported to Rwanda have had no chance to appeal, or reunite with family in Britain. They have had no consideration of their asylum claim, recognition of their medical or other needs, or any attempt to understand their predicament.
Many are desperate people fleeing unspeakable horrors. Many are Iranians, Eritreans and Sudanese citizens, who have an asylum grant rate of at least 88%. These are people Jesus had in mind as he said when we offer hospitality to a stranger, we do it for him. They are the vulnerable that the Old Testament calls us to value. We cannot offer asylum to everyone, but we must not outsource our ethical responsibilities, or discard international law – which protects the right to claim asylum.
We must end the evil trafficking; many churches are involved in fighting it. This needs global co-operation across every level of society. To reduce dangerous journeys to the UK we need safe routes: the church will continue to advocate for them. But deportations – and the potential forced return of asylum seekers to their home countries – are not the way. This immoral policy shames Britain.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has been on interview duty for the government this morning and she rejected the claim from the Church of England leaders. She told Sky News:
I don’t agree with [the letter], the people who are immoral in this case are the people traffickers trading in human misery. Those people need to suggest an alternative policy that will work. Our policy is completely legal, it’s completely moral.
What I’m saying to the critics of the policy who don’t have an alternative about how we deal with this illegal migration, is they don’t have an alternative, they are criticising our policy which is effective and does work.
Only around seven or eight asylum seekers are still scheduled to be on tonight’s flight. Originally the number was much higher, but many individuals have managed to get their removal orders halted by going to court. Further legal challenges are due to take place today, and some government sources have been saying that this could lead to the flight being cancelled before its scheduled departure time at 9.30pm.
But in interviews this morning Truss said the flight would be leaving tonight. She told the Today programme:
What I am able to say is the flight will leave tonight for Rwanda and if people aren’t on the flight today they will be on subsequent flights.
Asked if she was saying it could leave with no asylum seekers on it, she replied:
I’m sure there will be people on it. What I’m not able to say is how many people will be on it. But the important thing is that we establish the principle, that we establish the deterrent to deter these people trafficking gangs from the appalling human misery that they are trading in.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
10am: The high court is expected to hear further legal challenges on behalf of individual asylum seekers facing deportation to Rwanda on a flight due to leave tonight.
10am: Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, gives evidence to the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
11am: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, holds a press conference to launch the first of a series of papers making the case for Scottish independence.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Robert Courts, the aviation minister, gives evidence to the Commons business committee, about flight cancellations.
After 12.30pm: MPs begin debating a Labour motion censuring Kevin Foster, the minister for legal migration, for his handling of the crisis at the Passport Office.
2.30pm: Dame Vera Baird, victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee about the draft victims bill.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com
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