First deportation flight to Rwanda will not leave till summer, admits Sunak

As final parliamentary debates get under way, PM acknowledges dropping spring start to policy despite earlier promises

• UK politics – latest updates

The Rwanda deportation scheme will not begin until the summer, Rishi Sunak admitted on Monday, acknowledging a further delay to the policy even as MPs and peers began debating it for the final time.

The prime minister told a press conference that the first flights taking asylum seekers to Kigali would not take off for another 10to 12 weeks, despite having previously promised they would do so in the spring.