Home Office spent nearly £600,000 on deportation flights that never took off

Two flights to Spain, two to Pakistan and one to Somalia were grounded after challenges by human rights lawyers

The Home Office spent nearly £600,000 on deportation flights that never took off after being blocked by human rights challenges, it has emerged.

The Government paid £575,748 for five flights last year that never took off – two to Spain, two to Pakistan and one to Somalia. 

It is part of a total of £9 million spent by the Home Office on chartered deportation flights last year, removing 828 people including foreign criminals and rejected asylum seekers.

They included a flight chartered to deport Channel migrants to Spain in September which was halted for a second time after human rights lawyers claimed they could end up homeless on Madrid's streets.

Spain had accepted the return of the 18 migrants under a European-wide agreement that they were required to claim asylum in the first EU country they had entered.

However, a judge injuncted the chartered flight after lawyers for three of the 18 claimed the Spanish asylum system was struggling to cope with the influx of migrants, overwhelming the border post at Madrid airport and forcing some to sleep rough.

The 18 migrants included some for whom it was the second time their deportation had been halted after a previous Home Office-chartered plane, with 23 people due to be on board, was grounded last month by successful last-minute legal actions by human rights lawyers.

‘We make no apology for seeking to remove those who abuse our hospitality’

Home Office officials said they paid less than the usual cancellation costs on these flights as some flights could be rebooked or rescheduled.

The figures, first revealed by The Guardian, show the 828 removed by air last year was more than double the 410 deported on similar charters in 2019. The department spent £8.2 million on 47 charters to 24 countries last year, with 18 of those countries in Europe.

The Home Office no longer provides specific figures when there are fewer than 10 people on a flight. Eleven of the flights had fewer than 10 on board, meaning the exact number is unclear.

Some flights to European destinations had people with criminal convictions on board, along with "third country" removals. These were mainly asylum seekers who had arrived across the Channel in small boats.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We make no apology whatsoever for seeking to remove those who abuse our hospitality and have successfully deported 7,985 foreign national offenders since January 2019. 

"Charter flight operations are an important means to return disruptive individuals or where they are limited scheduled routes, particularly during the global coronavirus pandemic.

"Unfortunately, late legal claims – which are often unfounded or without merit – can result in people being removed from flights at the last minute. Our new plan for immigration will stop the abuse of the system and expedite the removal of those who have no right to be here."

Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said: "These lavishly expensive flights make a mockery of good governance and value for money. 

"But even worse than the economic waste is the harm and pain they've funded. Semi-naked, self-harming refugees have been exported to face destitution across Europe and black British families unable to pay legal fees have been ripped apart by these flights.

"At present, our deportation and removals system is unsafe and unjust, and any airline which believes in corporate social responsibility should refuse to operate it."

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