Home Office ‘hires aircraft hangar’ to practise forcing asylum seekers on to Rwanda flights

Published

2 years ago

January 19, 2024

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An aircraft hangar and fuselage have been hired by the Home Office for security officials to practise forcing asylum seekers on to deportation flights to Rwanda, it has been reported.

Guards have undergone special training programmes to deal with “disruptive” people, according to The Times.

This includes individuals resorting to violence to prevent being put on a plane and protesters “playing dead” by lying on the floor and refusing to move.

Politics live: Tory peer makes Rwanda admission

Security officials are also preparing for the prospect of demonstrations by campaigners outside an airbase in an attempt to stop flights, the newspaper said.

It is estimated that five officers will be needed for each migrant being removed.

The Home Office did not deny the report.

A spokesperson said: “Since 2015, the government has had training facilities to ensure escorts can respond professionally to the challenges of removing people with no right to be in the UK.

“This includes practical sessions, so escorts have the skills they need to deal with different scenarios.

“As we ramp up removal activity, we will continue to ensure new escorts have the training facilities necessary.”

Overseas escorts on deportation flights must undergo the Home Office Manual for Escorting Safely (HOMES) training course, that covers which restraint techniques to use in different scenarios.

This is alongside a wider Initial Training Court (ITC) about how to remove people safely.

The training emerged as a senior Conservative peer cast doubt that the stalled £290m scheme will ever get off the ground.

Under the plan, migrants who cross the Channel in small boats could be sent to Rwanda rather than being allowed to seek asylum in the UK.

As Rishi Sunak gears up for a battle with the Lords over legislation aimed at reviving the plan, former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Ruth Davidson said there are “dogs on the street that know” the flights will “probably never happen”.

She told BBC’s The Today Podcast: “Every sovereign nation should be in charge of who comes in; not everybody has a right to go to every country in the world – I completely get all of that. But where is the balance in this, rather than some of the language that is being used, some of the knots that people are getting into?

“And this thing about putting people on planes to Rwanda. I mean, there are dogs in the street that know that, one, it is probably never going to happen.

“And two, if it does, it is going to be a number so small that it makes very little difference to the bottom line.”

The prime minister managed to get his controversial policy through a third reading in the Commons this week after earlier rebellions by Conservative MPs, who want to see his Safety of Rwanda Bill toughened up.

The legislation, which aims to declare Rwanda safe and block further legal challenges, will now face scrutiny in the House of Lords.

Peers are expected to challenge the plan, which comes after the Supreme Court ruled the deportation scheme unlawful last November.

Members of the upper chamber have long expressed concerns that the policy could breach international law.

Speaking to reporters from Hampshire on Friday, Mr Sunak said he was “determined” to get the bill through parliament, so the scheme can be “up and running as quickly as possible so we can properly solve this problem”.

The Rwanda policy is seen as central to the “Stop the Boats pledge” Mr Sunak has staked his premiership on.

But with a general election expected in the second half of this year, time is running out for flights to take off.

Mr Sunak used a news conference on Thursday to urge the Lords not to “frustrate the will of the people” and back his bill, as he refused to repeat a previous commitment that fights to Rwanda would take off “in the spring”.

But barrister and cross-bench peer Lord Carlisle, who has described the legislation as “a step towards totalitarianism”, described the prime minister’s message as “banal” and “vacuous”, telling Sky News: “It is plain… [Mr Sunak] doesn’t understand anything about the way the House of Lords operates. We are not there to thwart the government.”

Politics

Clampdown on social media ads for Channel crossings unveiled

Published

3 hours ago

August 3, 2025

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Clampdown on social media ads for Channel crossings unveiled

Anyone who advertises Channel crossings or fake passports on social media could face up to five years in prison under new government plans.

Research suggests about 80% of migrants arriving to the UK by small boat used internet platforms during their journey – including to contact agents linked to smuggling gangs.

While it is already illegal to assist illegal immigration, ministers hope the creation of a new offence will give police more powers and disrupt business models.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is also planning to introduce a fast-track scheme to tackle the asylum backlog, meaning decisions will be made within weeks.

It comes as official figures show more than 25,000 people have arrived on small boats so far in 2025 – a record for this point in the year.

Ms Cooper said it is “immoral” for smugglers to sell false promises online, adding: “These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media.

“We are determined to do everything we can to stop them, wherever they operate.”

The new offence prohibiting the online promotion of Channel crossings is set to be included in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament.

Officials from the National Crime Agency already work with tech giants to remove such posts – with more than 8,000 taken offline last year.

A Preston-based smuggler who was jailed for 17 years had posted videos of migrants thanking him for his help.

Meanwhile, Albanian smugglers have created promotions for £12,000 “package deals” which claim to offer accommodation and a job in the UK on arrival.

The Conservatives have described the measures as “too little, too late” – and say automatic deportations are the only way to tackle small boat crossings.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour still has no clear plan to deter illegal entry, no effective enforcement and no strategy to speed up removals. This is a panicked attempt to look tough after months of doing nothing.”

It comes as protests outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers continue in towns and cities across the UK.

Several demonstrators were detained – with police breaking up brief clashes – outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in north London yesterday.

The government is legally required to provide accommodation and subsistence to destitute asylum seekers while their claims are being decided, most of whom are prohibited from working.

Politics

China’s crypto liquidation plans reveal its grand strategy

Published

15 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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China’s crypto liquidation plans reveal its grand strategy

China’s plan to liquidate confiscated crypto through Hong Kong exchanges isn’t simply a policy — it’s to control global digital asset markets and outmaneuver the US.

Politics

Make ‘significant adjustments’ to Online Safety Act, X urges govt

Published

1 day ago

August 2, 2025

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X criticises Online Safety Act - and warns it's putting free speech in the UK at risk

The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.

New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.

The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.

X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.

It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.

“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”

X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.

“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.

A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.

“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.

Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.

In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.

Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.

These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.

The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.

It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.

Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.