[UK] Home Office pushing ahead with deportation flights despite new lockdown and surge in coronavirus

The Home Office is pushing ahead with charter flights despite the UK’s new lockdown and soaring levels of coronavirus, in what campaigners say shows “contempt” for both deportees and the wider public.

Boris Johnson announced new, stricter coronavirus measures on Monday in an effort to slow the spread of the new, more transmissible variant of the virus, saying “everyone should now stay at home and only leave the house where absolutely necessary”.

Under the new rules, people are told that they should not travel abroad, and that they can only do so where they have a “legally permitted reason” to leave home, such as for work.

However, two deportation flights, each carrying up to 30 individuals, are due to leave the UK next week – one to Romania on Wednesday and one to Poland on Thursday. The Home Office said it would “continue to progress operations with appropriate measures in place”.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/deportation-charter-flights-home-office-lockdown-coronavirus-b1782584.html
Publication: The Independent
Writer: May Bulman