Priti Patel's Rwanda deportation flight can go ahead as High Court blocks plea to stop it

Desperate Afghans who were left behind in Kabul after being promised sanctuary in the UK will be among asylum seekers removed to Rwanda next week, the Mirror understands.

The High Court has refused to block asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda next week.

Migrants due to be put on a one-way removal flight the east African nation, alongside campaign groups and a union, had asked judges to block their upcoming deportation flight.

But Judge Mr Justice Swift said there was a “material public interest” in allowing Priti Patel to be able to implement immigration control decisions.

He also said the risks in sending asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles away to one of the poorest countries in the world outlined by claimants were small and “in the realms of speculation”.

The court heard 31 people were due on the first flight on Tuesday, with the Home Office planning to schedule more this year.

“I do not consider that the balance of convenience favours the grant of the generic relief,” Mr Swift told the Court.

Shortly after the judgement, Mr Justice Swift gave claimants the permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

Sonya Sceats, chief executive of the charity Freedom From Torture, said: “We are disappointed that the court did not grant this injunction to ensure that nobody is sent to Rwanda before Boris Johnson’s cruel policy can be subjected to proper legal scrutiny.

“But the fight is far from over. Caring people across Britain are incensed that this Government wants to send people seeking safety halfway across the world and are taking action.”

During the first stage of legal action against the controversial policy began lawyers told the Court the system is “unsafe”.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel said: “People will continue to try and prevent their relocation through legal challenges and last-minute claims but we will not be deterred in breaking the deadly people smuggling trade and ultimately save lives.

“Rwanda is a safe country and has previously been recognised for providing a safe haven for refugees – we will continue preparations for the first flight to Rwanda, alongside the range of other measures intended to reduce small boat crossings.”

Raza Husain QC, representing Public and Commercial Services union, told the High Court: “The system is not safe. It is not that it is not safe after July, it is just not safe.

The High Court was told the policy to send people on a one-way ticket to the east African nation was unlawful because it was “irrational”.

A senior Home Office source told the Mirror the department had long waited for such challenges and obstacles to their plans.

Earlier this week, Home Office workers have told of their frustrations with the legal policy, but senior officials have urged them to use “proper channels” to raise any issues they have with the scheme, it is understood.

Officials who have issues with the scheme should consider how their colleagues feel scooping babies, and children out of Channel waters, after loved ones had made the dangerous crossings, an insider told the Mirror.