Rwanda: How many asylum seekers will be on the first deportation flight?

The plane is ready, the runway clear, but how many passengers will be on board is still not obvious.

Whatever the outcome of last ditch legal challenges, it won’t be many.  At most seven asylum seekers will leave on the controversial deportation flight to Rwanda, but appeals against their removal are ongoing.

Amid criticism from the church, charity groups and politicians – the prime minister defended the plans saying lawyers representing the asylum seekers were “abetting the work of criminal gangs” by undermining safe and legal routes to the UK.