The first flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda has been postponed until November and perhaps into the next year by immigration lawyers.
The strategy of sending “irregular” refugees to Rwanda is being contested by a number of NGOs, a trade union, and individual migrants who crossed the Channel in dinghy or while concealing themselves in lorries.
The plan is to fly people who enter the country illegally to Africa so they can apply for asylum there.
However, the first aircraft was grounded in June following a decision made by a single European Court of Human Rights judge on night duty.
A judicial examination of the policy was scheduled to end today, but defence attorneys for the Home Office were able to effectively postpone the hearing by bringing forward new human rights issues.
The challenges to the flights will be addressed at two hearings, the first in September and the second in mid-October, according to a decision made yesterday by the High Court judges hearing the matter at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
The verdicts will be announced simultaneously, potentially weeks later.
The first flight could be delayed until 2023 even if the government programme is approved by the rulings.