No Rwanda flights before election, says Rishi Sunak

The programme, which has been delayed by legal challenges, was announced over two years ago by then-prime minister Boris Johnson.

But Mr Sunak has made delivering it a key priority of his premiership, regularly arguing it was central to his pledge to “stop the boats”.

In a sign he now wants to make delivering the plan a key offer to voters, he said flights will go “in July” and “that’s the choice at this election”.

Asked on BBC Radio 4 whether this meant after the election, he replied “Yes,” before adding “the choice here is clear”.

“If you think stopping the boats is important, and you think like I do that you need a deterrent to do that […] then I’m the only one that’s going to deliver that,” he added.