‘No guarantee’ flights to Rwanda will take off next year, Jeremy Hunt says

Published

1 year ago

November 16, 2023

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Jeremy Hunt has said there is “no guarantee” deportation flights to Rwanda will take off next year – in an apparent climbdown on the government’s position.

On Wednesday Rishi Sunak said three times the flights would take off by spring, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that the asylum scheme is unlawful.

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However, the chancellor declined to repeat this assurance when repeatedly pressed for a date.

Mr Hunt said: “We are hopeful that because of the solutions that the prime minister announced yesterday we will be able to get flights off to Rwanda next year.

“We can’t guarantee that, we have to pass legislation in the House of Commons and sign a new international treaty with Rwanda.”

Mr Sunak said yesterday the government plans to introduce a legally binding treaty with Rwanda which would address the issues raised by the Supreme Court.

Under the current plan, asylum seekers could be sent from Rwanda back to places where they might not be safe.

He said he would be taking the “extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation”, which will “enable parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe”.

“We will clear the remaining barriers and flights will be heading off in the spring as planned,” he later told journalists during a Q&A.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick was also unequivocal that flights would take off next year.

Asked on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge on Sky News whether flights with asylum seekers are going to take off to Rwanda before the next general election, expected in the spring or autumn of 2024, he said: “Yes. We must do.”

But Mr Hunt was unable to say when the emergency legislation would be passed, let alone the flights.

Pressed whether next year means in time for a general election, he said we “can’t give a precise date as to when those flights will happen”.

Asked how soon the promised emergency legislation could be laid before parliament for those flights to go ahead, he only said “very soon”.

When pushed if that meant before Christmas or early in the new year, he said: “We want to solve this as soon as possible.”

Mr Sunak and many of his Conservative MPs are concerned a failure to “stop the boats” will hit them badly at the next general election – given it is a pledge the prime minister has staked his premiership on.

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The ruling at the Supreme Court yesterday was the latest setback in the delayed scheme, which has already cost £140 million despite no flights taking off since the policy was announced last April due to a series of legal challenges.

The plan would see anyone who arrives in the UK by unauthorised means deported to Rwanda to claim asylum there – not the UK.

The government is working to broker a new legally binding treaty on top of the multi-million pound deal already struck with Kigali after the ruling from the UK’s highest court on Wednesday.

Members of the House of Lords have warned the bill is likely to face opposition and could very well be blocked by the upper chamber.

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption told the BBC the “profoundly discreditable” plan to use a law to declare Rwanda as safe is “constitutionally really quite extraordinary”.

He argued it will “effectively overrule a decision on the facts, on the evidence, by the highest court in the land”.

Politics

JD Vance denies insulting British troops over ‘random country’ jibe

Published

1 hour ago

March 4, 2025

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JD Vance denies insulting British troops over 'random country' jibe

JD Vance has hit back at criticism after saying a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine would be “20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.

The US vice president was accused of “disrespecting” British forces who served alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a former veterans minister branding him a “clown” who needs to “check his privilege”.

Politics latest: Trump stopping aid to Ukraine is ‘profoundly worrying’

Although the UK and France are the only countries to have pledged troops to a potential peacekeeping force, Mr Vance said the suggestion he was referring to those two allies is “absurdly dishonest”.

“I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond,” he said in a post on X.

“There are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”

Mr Vance made the initial comments to Fox News on Tuesday, saying the only security guarantee Donald Trump will provide for Ukraine is a minerals deal.

He said: “The president knows that if you want real US security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.

“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

Several British politicians interpreted this as a dig at the UK and France, who have led the idea of a “coalition of the willing” to provide boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused Mr Vance of “ignoring the service and sacrifice” of personnel from the two countries that fought in Afghanistan after 9/11.

He said that is the only time NATO’s Article 5 has been invoked, which holds that members of the alliance will come to the defence of an ally under attack.

He added: “Britain and France came to their aid deploying 1,000s of personnel to Afghanistan, including numerous parliamentary colleagues, past & present. It’s deeply disrespectful to ignore such service & sacrifice.”

Former Tory veterans minister Johnny Mercer called Mr Vance a “clown” who “needs to check his privilege”.

Helen Maguire, the Lib Dem’s defence spokesperson who also served in the army before her career in politics, accused Mr Trump’s deputy of “erasing the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan from history”.

She said: “Six of my own regiment, the Royal Military Police, didn’t return home from Iraq. This is a sinister attempt to deny that reality. Vance has demeaned his office.”

Speaking after Mr Vance clarified his remarks, a Downing Street spokesperson said the US vice president was “talking about other countries” when asked if he should apologise.

They added Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “is full of admiration for British troops who fought alongside the US and others in wars and their courage and bravery”.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told GB News “a lot of people are getting carried away”.

“They’re saying loads of things and getting quite animated, let’s keep cool heads,” she said.

“I believe President Trump and JD Vance want peace, they’re looking after their national interest, we need to do so as well.”

It is not the first time Mr Vance has riled the UK, after previously attacking it over free speech and saying the UK is “Islamist under Labour”.

A history of JD Vance riling the UK

JD Vance seems to save some of his most incendiary comments about other countries for the UK.

Donald Trump’s vice president has regularly caused outrage among MPs, most recently with what many saw as a perceived dig at British troops.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Mr Vance suggested Labour’s victory here made Britain the “first truly Islamist country” with nuclear weapons.

Recalling a conversation about who might be “the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon”, he said rather than it being somewhere like Iran, he settled on the UK “since Labour just took over”.

Mr Vance also used a landmark speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticise the UK and Europe over free speech, saying there had been a “backslide away from conscience rights” that had put “basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs”.

He doubled down on those remarks during Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week, claiming the government’s stance is something that affects US tech companies and, therefore, American citizens.

Sir Keir interjected, saying “we’ve had free speech for a very long time, it will last a long time, and we are very proud of that”.

The row comes after the Trump administration paused military aid to Ukraine following an extraordinary showdown between the US President and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The falling out has thrown into jeopardy the prospect of a minerals deal, which would give the US access to Ukraine’s deposits of rare earth minerals.

Mr Trump has suggested this would deter Russia from invading Ukraine again if a peace deal is struck – but Sir Keir said yesterday that it would not be enough on its own.

The prime minister told MPs on Monday that Britain must “lead from the front” on supporting Ukraine and Europe must “do the heavy lifting to support peace on our continent”.

However, he said “to succeed, this effort must also have strong US backing”.

Politics

Everything you need to know about Sir Keir Starmer’s four-point peace plan for Ukraine

Published

1 hour ago

March 4, 2025

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Everything you need to know about Sir Keir Starmer's four-point peace plan for Ukraine

Sir Keir Starmer has declared that a “coalition of the willing” will come together and draw up a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.

The prime minister said this will be presented to US President Donald Trump for his support, after he clashed publicly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House last week.

Sir Keir unveiled his four-point plan for peace in the Commons on Monday, the day after European leaders – plus Canada and Turkey – hurriedly gathered in London for talks on the Ukraine war.

Politics latest: JD Vance hits back at claims he disrespected British troops

He said this so-called “coalition of the willing” would enforce any peace deal in the war-torn country, and announced a plan for Kyiv to use £1.6bn of UK export finance to buy 5,000 more air defence missiles.

Washington has since paused military aid to Kyiv, with no indication of how long this could last.

Here, Sky News explains everything you need to know about Europe’s plan for peace.

What is Sir Keir Starmer’s four-point plan?

The prime minister has warned there are more tough choices to come on the war in Ukraine, insisting the UK must “lead from the front” when it comes to securing peace in Europe.

He did just that over the weekend, when 19 leaders gathered at Lancaster House to discuss building a lasting peace.

Led by the UK and France, the initiative could see troops from a number of European and NATO countries deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers in order to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from rearming and attacking again in the future.

At its heart is a four-point plan, which was agreed by attendees of the security summit:

1. Any lasting peace must guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty and security

2. Military aid to Ukraine must remain, while increasing the economic pressure on Russia

3. If a peace deal is reached, Ukraine’s defences must continue to be boosted

4. European leaders will join forces in a “coalition of the willing” to devise a peace plan for Ukraine. This will be presented to the US

What is the ‘coalition of the willing’?

The final point of Sir Keir’s plan points to a “coalition of the willing”, which will come together to devise a peace plan for Ukraine.

This could see troops from a number of European and NATO countries deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers in order to deter Putin from invading in the future.

Sir Keir said Europe “must do the heavy lifting” on defence and indicated several countries had expressed interest in being part of the coalition.

This approach would allow NATO members to act in a group but not under the NATO umbrella, avoiding vetoes from member states who do not approve or do not wish to be involved.

It is not yet entirely clear who the “coalition of the willing” are, though the UK and France are likely involved. It is also likely the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – will sign up to the initiative.