Labour is PETRIFIED our Rwanda plan will work – & now flights are going they’re not smiling any more

TUNE in on Friday for a special local elections edition of Never Mind The Ballots.

We'll be joined by Tory and Labour guests to chew over the results and what they mean for both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

If this year’s General Election is shaping up to be a prize political fight, then the locals are the all-important pre-match weigh-in.

Both Sunak and Starmer are desperate to show they are a force to be reckoned with - and will be carefully sizing up their chances based on the results.

As a final test for the main parties before the race for No10, they will prove crucial in setting the political weather for the next few months.

You can tune in on  and . 

By Jack Elsom, Chief Political Correspondent

LAST year it looked like the entire Rwanda plan was dead and buried - but not any more.

Footage of the first illegal migrants being detained is the most visible sign yet that ministers are serious about getting flights off the ground in July.

Albeit with their faces blurred, we have now seen the first asylum seekers who will be forcibly deported to Kigali.

Like or loathe the plan, but two years since it was first announced the prospect of removal flights to Rwanda now looks very real.

Yes, there will inevitably be an army of lawyers lining up to block the individuals being sent on the planes.

Time will tell whether the shiny new Rwanda legislation is sufficiently watertight for courts to throw out these claims.

Politically the timing is helpful for Mr Sunak, who heads into the local elections this Thursday looking for something to sell to voters.

And open up a clear dividing line with Labour who said they will scrap the plan.

Border cops today burst into homes in a series of immigration raids to stop asylum seekers from absconding ahead of deportation flights to Rwanda in July.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the enforcement squads were “working at pace” to nab them - and released pictures and video of the stings.

Footage shows officers swooping on several addresses before leading illegal migrants into the back of a van in handcuffs.

It comes after The Sun exclusively revealed that the first migrant has already been sent to Kigali under the parallel voluntary scheme.

Mr Cleverly said: “Our Rwanda Partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it.

“Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.”

Rather than being returned to their home country, they have opted to use a new Home Office scheme to start a new life in Kigali.

It is a parallel plan to Rishi Sunak's flagship immigration one to physically deport illegal arrivals.

Under this policy, illegal migrants will have no choice about being deported to Rwanda. Here are the details...

What is the Rwanda plan?

Under the flagship immigration plan, anyone who arrives in Britain illegally will never have the right to remain permanently.

For those who cannot be returned to their home country, ministers plan to send them to Rwanda, a country in eastern Africa.

The government believes the threat of being removed to Rwanda will deter migrants from making the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats.

Once in Rwanda, their asylum claims will be processed but there is no route back to the UK, save for some exceptional circumstances such as individual safety concerns.

Britain will also pay for migrants to start a new life in Rwanda for the first five years.

What’s the hold up?

First announced by Boris Johnson in 2022, the scheme has been bogged down by relentless legal challenges.

The first flight was due to take off in the summer of that year, but was blocked on the runway at the last minute by a European Court order.

Since then the legality of the plan has been contested in the courts, culminating in a Supreme Court judgement in November last year which said Rwanda was unsafe for asylum seekers. 

What is Sunak doing?

To salvage the Rwanda plan from the Supreme Court’s scathing ruling, Rishi Sunak has unveiled a two-pronged workaround.

First, he has signed a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for asylum seekers that have been enshrined in law.

Second, he has introduced new legislation that declares Rwanda a safe country.

It means courts, police and officials would have to treat Rwanda as safe and therefore throw out legal challenges to deportation.

He has given ministers the power to ignore European grounding orders to avoid a repeat of the 2022 runway fiasco.

When will flights take off?

Five months after the Supreme Court appeared to have sunk the Rwanda plan, it is now back on track.

Mr Sunak insists both Britain and Rwanda are ready for the first flights to take off in July to kickstart a “regular rhythm” of planes.

The process of detaining those migrants earmarked for the first flights has now begun, although the Home Office is remaining tight-lipped over how they have been selected.

Will it work?

The Safety of Rwanda Act is the third piece of legislation designed to stop small boats in two years.

Mr Sunak is confident that this one is finally tough enough to make deportations to Kigali a viable threat, and therefore deter illegal migrants making the dangerous Channel crossing.

One thing for certain is that an army of lawyers are gearing up to launch legal challenges on behalf of those individuals scheduled for removal.

The threshold they have to meet is that migrants face a risk of “serious and irreversible harm” by being sent to Kigali.

Ministers previously insisted that the Safety of Rwanda Act would force courts to throw out around 95 per cent of all claims.

Time will tell if the legislation is as watertight as they hope - and whether it proves to be an effective deterrent for those considering piling into small boats.