It’s not been Sir Keir Starmer’s week. After a 100,000-strong march at the weekend saw Brits protest issues like Britain’s borders, the news that the Home Office has failed to deport migrants to France for the second day in a row is unlikely to defuse tensions. Thanks to human rights claims, the one-in one-out migrants deal to France has been delayed after lawyers submitted eleventh-hour legal challenges – putting a spanner in the works of Starmer’s deportation plans.
A flight leaving Heathrow Airport today was due to have a number of migrants on board – but the Home Office admitted that there would be no deportations for the second day in a row. The government had booked a small total of seats on Air France flights from Heathrow to Paris every day this week for migrants, and despite not having had any success so far, the Home Office is hopeful that by the end of the week some people will have been removed from the country.
One of the legal claims submitted by a migrant stated that due to being tortured and trafficked, they should not be returned to France. The Home Office will consider its response while the deportation is deferred – and while it is thought likely that the government will refuse the claim, officials have requested more time to consider the case. And more than legal worries, there are concerns in the Home Office that France could pull out of the arrangement if it was concluded that the scheme wasn’t running smoothly – which would put Starmer back to square one. It’s yet another headache for the beleaguered PM…
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