Tories vow to deport 90,000 migrants to Rwanda or their home countries

The manifesto promises a “relentless, continuous process of the final removal of illegal migrants to Rwanda”;

The Conservatives have pledged to deport all 90,000 migrants who have arrived illegally in Rwanda or their home country since last year.

In the party's manifesto, released on Tuesday by Rishi Sunak. , it commits to introducing the Irregular Migration Act, giving ministers powers to detain and deport arrivals to a safe third country such as Rwanda or their home country.

Party officials have made it clear that there will be no changes to the Act, despite claims from refugee charities and Labor that the government will not be able to provide enough flights for so many deportations.

The move came after his manifesto set out plans to scrap National Insurance for almost all self-employed people, scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers of properties up to £425,000 and cut the cost of energy green levies.

However, he stopped short of threatening to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), despite pressure from rightwing MPs to go further.

There are approximately 90,000 migrants subject to the Irregular Migration Act whose right to seek asylum will become “inadmissible” once it comes into force and will therefore be subject to deportation to Rwanda or their home country. Refugee agencies estimate the number could reach 115,000 by the end of the year.

They have not been detained yet to be deported, and until now they were in limbo, denied the right to seek asylum, but could not be expelled before departure. Instead, the Home Office initially targeted more than 3,000 migrants who arrived before the Act came into force and were detained.

The manifesto promised a «relentless, continuous process of final removal of illegal migrants to Rwanda through a regular rhythm of flights every month, starting in July this year, until the boats stop.»

Asked whether the government would be able to deport all 90,000 people, officials said the scheme for Rwanda «has no limit,» but declined to give a time frame for the deportations.

This is the first time the Tories have publicly given a figure for deportations, although leaked documents initially suggested that only 30,000 people would be deported over the five years of the agreement with Rwanda.

This was complemented by a commitment to ensure all asylum applications were processed within six months and stop using the hotels. A timeline for reaching that goal was not set, but officials noted that 150 of the 400 facilities had been closed and vowed to complete them «as quickly as possible.»

The manifesto also announced new health checks for legal migrants before they come to the UK so that anyone who «may become a burden on the NHS» will have to pay the standard £1,035 health surcharge or take out health insurance.

The manifesto did not contain an explicit threat to leave the ECHR, but merely stated that “if we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the European Court of Human Rights, we will always choose our security.”

This is seen as a possibility of leaving the ECHR if Strasbourg fails to reform its procedures. The manifesto said the party would work with other countries to “rewrite” asylum treaties to make them fit for purpose in tackling the “problems” of illegal migration.