LABOUR’S flagship returns deal with France could be thwarted by the High Court in a last-minute legal challenge.
An urgent application has been made against the Home Office with a hearing at 4pm this afternoon.
The SunRows of seats were left empty after the second ‘one in, one out’ flight left without migrants onboard[/caption]
The SunFlights were due to take off for the Government’s one-in-one-out deal with Paris this week[/caption]
AFPCharities and lawyers have so far frustrated the Home Office’s plan to return failed asylum seekers[/caption]
Flights were due to take off for the Government’s one-in-one-out deal with Paris this week – but have so far left with no migrants onboard.
Charities and lawyers have so far frustrated the Home Office’s plan to return failed asylum seekers detained last month under a pact with Emmanuel Macron.
London’s High Court was told the man in the case being heard this afternoon is due to be removed from the UK at 9am tomorrow.
Sonali Naik KC, for the unnamed man, said a decision under the national referral mechanism decision – which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking – was pending.
Shortly after the hearing began, judge Mr Justice Sheldon paused the hearing to read a document.
He added: “I want only to hear argument for an hour maximum so that I can make a decision.”
The High Court heard that the unnamed migrant is seeking “interim relief” – a temporary block on his removal to France until his case can be fully heard.
Sonali Naik KC said there is a “real risk of destitution” for the man if he is deported.
She told the court that “a third of asylum seekers in France are not accommodated”.
It comes after the second planned “one in, one out” deportation flight took off without a single boat migrant on board — in another huge blow for Sir Keir Starmer.
An Air France flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris left with no asylum seekers after more last-minute challenges again blocked the start of the deportation pact.
Several pairs of seats were left empty on the flight when Air France staff told The Sun it had been fully reserved.
Some passengers moved into the vacated seats after take-off to give themselves more room.
The 45-minute flight took off without any asylum seekers on board and with no staff from either the Border Force or Mitie, the contractor agency which runs the Harmondsworth Removal Centre.
It landed in Paris shortly after 11.30am European time.
At least one asylum seeker had been told they would be deported on this morning’s flight after they were pulled off a plane on Monday afternoon, which also went ahead without any migrants.
It is thought that several others were told they would be flown home this morning but appear to have been prevented from travelling at the last moment.
The delay is another massive blow for Sir Keir Starmer who had hoped the pilot scheme would act as a deterrent to would-be migrants crossing the channel.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The government is too naive to realise this.
“They have not scrapped the Human Rights Act in immigration matters or, indeed, the use of modern slavery claims as a pretext to stay in Britain.
“What we should do is deport every single illegal immigrant immediately on arrival.”
But the government has faced major criticism as since the deal came into effect last month, some 5,400 small boat migrants have arrived on UK shores.
Those being sent back to France have been given five days’ notice of the Home Office‘s intention to deport them, The Times reported.
But this will mean that anyone will be able to seek legal advice and potentially fight the decision.
Commercial planes are being used to keep costs at a minimum rather than charter private flights.
It’s expected that fewer than 100 migrants will be sent back to France as part of the pilot scheme.
But this year alone, some 31,026 migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats.
The scheme, created while Yvette Cooper served as Home Secretary, was blasted last month as useless by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
He told the BBC he and former PM Rishi Sunak had pushed for France to accept “every single illegal migrant” in a deal.
He said: “The French said no, and said no again to Starmer when he’s tried to do the same.
“The answer is to have a proper deterrent — sorting out our human rights laws, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and then ensuring we actually deport everyone.”
However, Attorney General Lord Hermer said leaving the treaty would actually harm the government’s efforts to end the Channel crisis.
The delay is another massive blow for Sir Keir Starmer who had hoped the pilot scheme would act as a deterrent to would-be migrants crossing the channelCrown Copyright
Gary StoneThis year alone, some 31,026 migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats[/caption]
MIKE GRAHAM With backlog of 120k migrants, here’s why Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ plan will not work & prove Starmer is paper tiger
CUTTING down on illegal immigration is a simple numbers game.
If you deport more people than you let in, eventually the numbers of illegal migrants will be reduced.
While this, for most of us, is a statement of the obvious, it has clearly not been understood by any of the last few Home Secretaries.
And it certainly isn’t understood by the current Prime Minister.
In what looks like becoming one of the most difficult weeks in government for Sir Keir Starmer, he is hoping that Shabana Mahmood, his new Home Secretary, will be able to pull off a manoeuvre that could save his job.
More than 5,500 illegal migrants have arrived on our shores since Yvette Cooper, the last Home Secretary, announced a new plan to return them to France last month.
So far, not one has been sent back.
But that is supposedly all about to change.
According to the Home Office, dozens of migrants will be removed this week on commercial flights from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
They will each be accompanied by “escorts” from private contractors Mitie Care and Custody, and they will sit among tourists and business passengers — supposedly to keep costs down.
This is what has become known as the “one-in, one-out” scheme.
Which would be fine, except that it isn’t.
It’s very obvious that the very notion of one in, one out would only work as a deterrent if every illegal migrant was earmarked for removal.
And that is simply not what is happening.
According to the Home Office, just over 100 illegal migrants have been detained since the new deal came into force on August 6.
They have been held at the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow.
If all goes well, some of them will be sent back.
But there’s lots of reasons why we shouldn’t get too excited about this new scheme.
First, every single illegal migrant is entitled to a legal appeal against their removal.
While the Government is promising to fast-track them, each appeal could take weeks or even months.
There is already a backlog of cases currently running at more than 120,000.
At this speed of deportation, the Home Office will be at it for years just to clear the people already here illegally — never mind those entering every single week.
Secondly, of those who are returned to France, they will each be substituted by another migrant who has been granted permission to apply for asylum legally.
So, effectively, we will be flying out illegal migrants, and flying in the same number to take their places in the queue.
It is the mathematics of Rachel Reeves, and it is bound to fail.
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