Minister lets slip date of first Rwanda flight by leaving document lying around

22 April 2024 , 15:00

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Rishi Sunak told a Downing Street press conference that flights will start 'come what may' (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A bungling minister let slip the secret date for the first deportation flight to Rwanda after they left documents lying around in Downing Street.

Rishi Sunak announced at a press conference this morning that the Government had booked commercial charter planes and had an airfield on standby. The PM said the first flight “will leave in 10 to 12 weeks”, suggesting the scheme will finally get up and running in July.

But following the press conference, a Tory minister inadvertently left behind a government briefing document showing the actual plan is for the flights to begin a month earlier. It stated: "The first charter flight to Rwanda is provisionally scheduled for June (please protect)."

Ministers who attended the event were Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell, Immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson, Home Secretary James Cleverly, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Attorney General Victoria Prentis.

Peers and MPs are expected to sit late into the evening tonight as Mr Sunak tries to get controversial legislation passed, which he hopes will enable the scheme to begin.

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The PM told the press conference that planes would take off "come what may", adding: “No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda." He said that several flights will go every month.

The government briefing paper was inadvertently left behind by a minister after a Downing Street press conference (Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street)

Earlier, a Tory minister claimed the capital of Rwanda is safer than London. Mr Mitchell said discussions in the House of Lords about judicial arrangements for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda have been "patronising" and at times "border on racism". Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “If you look at the statistics, Kigali is actually safer than London.”

But leading lawyer and independent crossbencher Lord Carlile of Berriew told the same programme that the Government's Rwanda Bill is "ill-judged, badly drafted, inappropriate" and "illegal in current UK and international law".

Official figures published today show the number of asylum seekers arriving in Britain in small boats has risen by a quarter since last year. Between January 1 and April 21, 6,265 people came compared to 5,049 in the same period last year.

Do you think the Rwanda Bill is a good idea? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.

Last week saw peers amend the Rwanda Bill yet again to include an exemption for Afghan nationals who assisted British troops and a provision meaning Rwanda could not be treated as safe unless it was deemed so by an independent monitoring body.

Tonight, MPs are expected to vote to overturn those changes before sending the Bill back to the House of Lords, where some peers may attempt to insist on their amendments again. If so, the Bill would return to the Commons later for a further vote and then return once again to the Lords in a process known as "ping pong" that could last well past the Commons' usual 10.30pm finish.

John Stevens