'One in, one out' deportation delays 'intensely frustrating', says minister, as man makes modern slavery claim
A minister has called the delays to the government's 'one in, one out' deportation plans "intensely frustrating", as one man uses claim of modern slavery to halt flight.
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The Home Office will lodge an appeal on Thursday against a High Court decision temporarily blocking the deportation of an Eritrean man under the UK-France migrants returns deal.
On Tuesday, the court had granted the man a “short period of interim relief” and given him 14 days to make representations to support his claim that he was a victim of modern slavery.
Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray rejected the idea the agreement had been a total failure, but called the delays "intensely frustrating".
"There is no one more frustrated than us in government," he said.
Mr Murray said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will not let these "vexatious last minute attempts" frustrate the deal.
"We want these deportations to happen imminently. The Home Secretary is going to be fighting these challenges every step of the way, standing up for the British public in court, because we want this deal to go ahead, we want these deportations to happen imminently," he said.
Nick asked why the government hadn't foreseen these challenges and ensured they would not be used to halt deportations in this way.
Mr Murray explained: "As I understand it, the objection which has been made about someone at the last minute claiming that they're a modern slave, despite having never mentioned that before, and this is something which I think makes a mockery, to be honest, of our laws and of our country's generosity."
Ms Mahmood has been accused of putting lives at risk by the anti-slavery watchdog, after she too said the use of modern slavery legislation to block deportations of migrants made a “mockery of our laws”.
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons condemned the Home Secretary’s comments.
She said Ms Mahmood’s words “have a real-life impact on victims of exploitation, who may now be more scared to come forward and talk about what’s happened to them”.