James Cleverly said the Government is “absolutely determined” the first Rwanda migrant flight will take off before the next general election. 

However, the Home Secretary failed to guarantee that will be the case as he said he did not want to “guesstimate” on the timescale for implementing the policy. 

Asked if he was willing to give a guarantee that the first flight will happen before the next election, he told Times Radio: “We are absolutely determined to make that happen.” 

Asked if that was therefore likely to be by the spring, he said: “The timescales that we are looking at can vary depending on circumstances. 

“I don’t want to speculate, I don’t want to try and guesstimate a timing. But we are working to get this done as quickly as possible.”

The Home Secretary’s comments came after Rishi Sunak vowed to strike a new treaty with Rwanda and pass “extraordinary” legislation declaring the country was “safe” after the Supreme Court ruled the Government’s original Rwanda scheme was unlawful.

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