Airfield on standby and planes booked for Rwanda deportations, Sunak says

Politics

The prime minister has said the first deportation flights to Rwanda will leave “in 10 to 12 weeks”, hours before MPs are due to vote on his emergency legislation.

Rishi Sunak added that the government has “an airfield on standby and booked commercial charter planes”.

“No ifs, not buts, these flights are going to Rwanda,” the prime minister said.

The press conference comes just hours before Mr Sunak’s emergency legislation is due to be voted on by MPs in the Commons and peers in the House of Lords, possibly well into the evening.

The controversial bill will return to the Commons after several rounds of parliamentary ping-pong, which has seen the Lords express their opposition to the proposals through a series of amendments the prime minister does not accept.

Mr Sunak vowed last week that today would be the day the bill finally got through parliament, telling reporters there would be “no more prevarication, no more delay”.

He said both houses would sit as late into the night as needed to agree a version of the bill to pass into law.

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