British Home Secretary Priti Patel has insisted the UK government will press ahead with its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda despite an 11th-hour legal ruling by a European court which halted the first departure.
Ms Patel said she was surprised by the European Court of Human Rights' intervention, overruling domestic judicial decisions, but told MPs it was "inevitable" there would be legal challenges to the UK government's policy.
Last night, the ECHR said it had granted an urgent interim measure in regards to an Iraqi national who was due to be on the flight, and it is understood the court was considering a number of further requests.
It said the individual concerned should not be removed until ongoing judicial review proceedings in the British courts challenging the legality of the deportation policy have been completed.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK is considering legal reforms after the ECHR intervention.
Asked whether Britain would reassess its involvement with the ECHR, the spokesman said: "We will do whatever it takes to deliver this new approach, including being prepared to explore any and all further legal reforms that may be necessary."
Asked whether the British government is considering pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Attorney General has said "all options are on the table".
Suella Braverman told the BBC's World At One: "Well the government has been clear in the media aftermath of the ruling issued by the (ECHR) that all options are on the table. So we're not ruling anything in and we're not ruling anything out."
Meanwhile, in an apparent reference to the human rights lawyers who have repeatedly taken on the UK government, Ms Patel told MPs that "the usual suspects" had set out to "thwart" the plan.
But she added: "This government will not be deterred from doing the right thing. We will not be put off by the inevitable legal last-minute challenges.
"Nor will we allow mobs to block removals."
Giving details of the decisions made by the ECHR, she said it had not ruled the policy was unlawful but "prohibited the removal of three of those on last night's flight".
"Those prohibitions last for different time periods but are not an absolute bar on their transfer to Rwanda. Anyone who has been ordered to be released by the courts will be tagged while we continue to progress their relocation."
She said the court's decision was "disappointing and surprising" but "we remain committed to this policy".
"We believe that we are fully compliant with our domestic and international obligations, and preparations for our future flights and the next flights have already begun, she told MPs.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded the Rwanda policy a "shambles".
She said: "This is a shambles and it is shameful and the Home Secretary has no one but herself to blame. This is not and never has been a serious policy and she knew that when she chartered the plane.
"She knew that among the people she was planning to send to Rwanda on this plane were torture and trafficking victims. She knew she didn't have a proper screening process in place, she knew that some of them might be children."
'Not deterred'
Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said: "We are not deterred by these developments.
"Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work. The current situation of people making dangerous journeys cannot continue as it is causing untold suffering to so many.
"Rwanda stands ready to receive the migrants when they do arrive and offer them safety and opportunity in our country."
However, the ruling was welcomed by James Wilson, deputy director of Detention Action, which is one of the groups that has been challenging the deportation policy through the courts.
"Last night was a night for the history books and the European Court of Human Rights, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has done what it was established to do," he said.
"It rarely intervenes in the legal matters of member countries. That it has done so now shows how potentially dangerous the [British] government's Rwanda removals policy is."
