Rwanda plan flight used to deport migrants to Vietnam

The Labour government has used flights scheduled to deport migrants under the Tories’ scrapped Rwanda scheme to return failed asylum seekers to Vietnam and Timor-Leste.

- HOLLY BANCROFT

The Home Office announced that a charter flight took 46 migrants to the Asian countries on Wednesday.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs this week that flight planning for the scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme would be redirected to deport criminals and immigration offenders.

She said: “We have immediately replaced the flight planning for Rwanda with actual flights to return people who have no right to stay to their home countries instead.”