Labour's bid to deport small boat migrants back to France risked turning to farce today as two deportation flights were blocked amid last-minute legal challenges.
An attempt to remove one migrant aboard an Air France flight from Heathrow to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport was abandoned yesterday, followed by another today.
French charity Auberge des Migrants, which has mounted a campaign against the 'one-in, one-out' policy, said two deportations had now been cancelled.
It is thought lawyers for the migrants submitted late legal challenges shortly before the removals were due to take place.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman denied that the blocking of the first two flights meant the system was ‘a shambles’, or that ministers were powerless against the courts.
