The first migrant return flight to France did not take off due to protests
GB News presenters Eamonn Holmes and Elle Costello were left gobsmacked on Tuesday’s programme after a commentator admitted it was unsurprising a migrant flight had been cancelled. The first deportation of a Channel migrant under Sir Keir Starmer‘s “one in, one out” deal with France was cancelled at the last minute. One migrant was set to be flown from Heathrow to Paris on an Air France passenger flight on Monday but the flight was postponed amid protests by charities and threats of legal action, the Telegraph reported. Lawyers are also believed to be advising many of the 90 Channel migrants who have been detained since the beginning of August ready for their enforced return to France. The Home Office has to give “generous” time extensions to the migrants to take legal advice on challenging their deportation as a result of a ruling against the Tory government’s thwarted Rwanda deportation scheme.
The presenters were joined by commentator Fraser Myers who suggested as long as illegal migrants can make repeated legal challenges and the government refuses to leave the ECHR, deportation schemes will continue to fail. He added, “None of these schemes are worth the paper they’re written on”.
Moment Keir Starmer’s migrant plan utterly destroyed on GB News (Image: GETTY)
GB News presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello were left gobsmacked (Image: GB News)
Eamonn quizzed: “What about the partial returns deal? How much of a surprise was that? Lawyers will suddenly become involved in this at the last minute to prevent anyone from being deported.”
Mr Myers replied: “It shouldn’t be a surprise to viewers of this channel. I’m pretty sure when we were talking about this deal coming through we said that legal challenges would be allowed.
And if those legal challenges are able to wait out this period – I think it’s a 30-day cooling off period then the migrants will be able to stay. This is the problem at the heart of this issue.”
He went on to suggest that the new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood “talks a tough talk” about deporting migrants but as long as people can make legal challenges and appeal those decisions and they can declare there is a “human rights need to stay none of these schemes are going to get off the ground and none of them are worth the paper they’re written on”.
GB News guest Fraser Myers argued the government had no plans for migrant deportation (Image: GB NEWS)
A stunned Ellie remarked: “So where do we go from here? You can’t deport anybody, can you? While you’re in the ECHR, whilst you allow for legal challenge?”
“The only thing government has promised where you can actually believe them and think they’re committed to this is where they have said, ‘we’re not going to leave the ECHR,’ ‘we’re not going to tamper with the Refugee Convention,’ Mr Moyes argued.
Ripping into Starmer, he added, ‘And that means they’re not going to solve this issue no matter how much they protest they’re working on it.”
Some 100 migrants were detained on arrival into the UK at the start of August before their names and details were passed to the French for approval.
Lawyers believe their cases could be challenged under their rights to a family life under article eight of the European Convention of Human Rights if they have relatives in the UK. Cases could be lodged on the grounds that they have been trafficked or suffer mental ill health.
