Rishi Sunak says 'enough is enough' as he says first Rwanda flights will leave in weeks

The Prime Minister has outlined his "robust" plan for the Safety of Rwanda Bill which will face Parliament.

Rishi Sunak said the first flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda will leave in roughly 10 to 12 weeks. While his initial plans promised flights to set off in spring, the new timeframe suggests a more likely start in July.

Despite facing roadblocks in Parliament, Mr Sunak stressed that Rwanda is a "safe country" and that the Bill sends a "clear message" that illegal migrants will not be allowed to stay in the UK.

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Speaking at a press conference today (April 22), he said: "To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200. To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained, dedicated caseworkers ready and waiting.

“To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days.

“The Strasbourg court has amended their rule 39 procedures in line with the test set out in our Illegal Migration Act. And we’ve put beyond all doubt that ministers can disregard these injunctions with clear guidance that if they decide to do so, civil servants must deliver that instruction and most importantly, once the processing is complete, we will physically remove people.

“And to do that, I can confirm that we’ve put an airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes for specific slots and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks.

“This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home