Afternoon summary Tens of thousands of unauthorised migrants who seek sanctuary in the UK will be flown more than 4,000 miles to Rwanda under a new set of immigration policies, Boris Johnson has said. Johnson has dodged fresh questions over the future of his leadership after being given fixed-penalty notices by police for breaking Covid laws, as a former minister suggested he should consider his position. Imran Ahmad Khan, the MP expelled from the Conservative party after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, has announced he will resign, meaning a byelection will be triggered in his Wakefield constituency. Coronavirus infections have fallen slightly in most of the UK, figures from the Office for National Statistics show, although experts analysing the data say it is too soon to tell whether infections have passed their peak. "Morally reprehensible, probably unlawful and [possibly] unworkable" - former Home Office head on Rwanda plan Sir David Normington, who was permanent secretary at the Home Office between 2005 and 2011, has delivered a withering verdict on the plan to effectively deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight, he said: Let’s assume that’s actually going to happen, because there are lots of hurdles to get over and the prime minister admitted that, so it’s not going to solve a problem very quickly. But let’s assume it is going happen and the government is serious about it. My assessment is, well, first of all it’s inhumane, it’s morally reprehensible, it’s probably unlawful and it may well be unworkable. Imran Ahmad Khan to resign as MP for Wakefield, triggering key byelection test for Labour Imran Ahmad Khan has announced that he is standing down as an MP. He is appealing his conviction for sexual assault and, even though he is not required to resign as an MP at this point, he says that an appeal could take months and that he does not think it would be right for his constituents to go so long without proper representation. This means that there will be a byelection in Wakefield, a classic “red wall” seat, held by Labour since the 1930s but won by the Tories in 2019. Khan had a majority of 3,358 and if Labour fail to win the byelection, then it is very hard to seeing the party having any chance of victory at the general election. Patel says costs of Rwanda plan "drop in ocean" compared to potential long-term costs of flawed asylum system Priti Patel, the home secretary, has rejected claims that her plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will be too expensive. Speaking to reporters in Rwanda, she said the costs were “a drop in the ocean” compared to the costs of not tackling the rising number of people arriving by crossing the Channel in small boats. She said: The costs right now [of the asylum system] are going to go up and up and up because we can’t stop the boats today or tomorrow. The projections for the summer are incredibly high. Currently, we stand at a bill for taxpayers for over £1.5bn pounds a year and that’ll just go up if we do nothing. Our work with the government of Rwanda, our work when it comes to removals and charter flights, are a drop in the ocean, compared to the long-term aggregated costs to UK taxpayers and it’s unfair on hard pressed taxpayers. I’m not ashamed to say that at all, I’m absolutely very vocal about standing up for hard pressed British taxpayers constantly, because it’s not just about the money costs. It’s about the wider strains and pressures. Asked if she was “really sure about this idea” in light of a deal struck between the Israelis and Rwanda a few years ago which saw “many of those people ending up in the hands of people traffickers, murdered, raped, tortured, and enslaved” (see 1.50pm), she replied: “The answer is yes.” She also said that Rwanda had resettled more than 130,000 refugees from Africa and neighbouring countries - and they “do that incredibly well”. She also confirmed that the plan was not conditional on the nationality and borders bill becoming law. The Ministry of Defence will bolster Border Force with an offshore patrol vessel, up to six patrol boats, and one Wildcat helicopter operating in the Channel, PA Media reports. PA says: The MoD will make available a range of Royal Navy surface and surveillance assets to bolster Border Force capabilities until longer-term capabilities have been contracted. It is understood the MoD will make use of offshore patrol vessels, which are typically used for coastal defence, and have been used to protect and enforce UK fishing waters. It will also use up to six P2000s patrol boats, and one Wildcat helicopter, the latter of which is described on the MoD’s website as a “maritime attack helicopter”, capable of operating from frigates and destroyers. The MoD has secured £50m to implement its role in the Channel and provide additional capabilities. The president of the Law Society of England and Wales, I. Stephanie Boyce, has criticised Boris Johnson for attacking “politically motivated lawyers” (see 11.39am) in his speech this morning. She said: It is particularly disappointing - this week of all weeks - the government is repeating misleading suggestions that legal challenges are politically motivated. Legal challenges establish if the government is abiding by its own laws. If the government wishes to avoid losing court cases, it should act within the law of the land. Two oligarchs linked to Roman Abramovich have faced sanctions, They are Eugene Tenenbaum, a director of Abramovich’s club, Chelsea FC, and David Davidovich, described as Abramovich’s “much lower profile right-hand man”. The Foreign Office claims assets worth £10bn will be frozen as a result of these measures. Conservative MPs approve of the plane to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, ITV’s Anushka Asthana reports. The Scottish government has released a statement condemning the UK government’s Rwanda plan for asylum seekers. Angus Robertson, its external affairs secretary, said: This is an outrageous policy. The Home Office should focus on improving the asylum system, not finding new and shameful ways to make it more challenging and prolonged for people seeking safety from persecution. The UK government must explain how it will ensure the welfare of extremely vulnerable people in any off-shoring arrangement, when it appears to be washing their hands of them. Subjecting people to these horrifying arrangements is an abdication of the UK’s moral and international responsibilities. People must be able to make their claims for asylum with full and fair consideration by the Home Office and, if successful, be supported to rebuild their lives as refugees in the UK. Andrew Griffith, the Conservative MP who runs the PM’s policy unit, told BBC Radio 4’s the World at One that the government did not need to wait for the nationality and borders bill to become law before it could start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. “My understanding is this policy can come in immediately,” he said. He said it would take “weeks or months” to become operational. In his speech and Q&A this morning Boris Johnson implied that, because of legal challenges, implementing the policy would take a lot longer. From the Mirror’s Dan Bloom Tory MP Neil Hudson calls for Tory leadership contest "as soon as international situation permits" Neil Hudson, the Tory MP for Penrith and the Border, has told constituents he believes Boris Johnson should call a leadership election after being found to have broken the law. But he said that should take place only when the situation in Ukraine had passed the peak of the crisis. “The fact that the lawmakers went on to break those very laws they brought in to keep us all safe is deeply damaging for our democracy,” Hudson said in a statement on his website. He said it would not be “prudent or responsible to change the leadership of the government in the midst of the international crisis that is the war in Ukraine”. However, he said the prime minister should still show leadership by calling a vote of confidence. I will therefore be looking to the prime minister to show the statesmanship he has been showing with Ukraine and outline a timetable and process for an orderly transition to a leadership election as soon as the international situation permits. Farage says Rwanda policy does not go far enough, and implies Brexit won"t be complete until Human Rights Act goes The Rwanda policy looks like the sort of plan drafted to please voters who backed Ukip and the Brexit party (and who largely went Tory in 2019, but who might yet give up on Boris Johnson at the next election). But in an interview with Radio 4’s the World at One, Nigel Farage, the former Ukip and Brexit party leader, said that the proposal only deserved “half a cheer”. Farage said that the proposal might work in the short term. But he predicted that it would soon be blocked by the courts. All it needs is one abuse case and then of course the Human Rights Act could be invoked, and that will put a stop to the whole thing. So I see this really as being not much more than a short term solution, if it ever actually happens. Farage said the only effective solution would be to turn back boats (a proposal that Johnson specifically rejected in his speech this morning – see 1.19pm.) Farage also said the UK would never be able to operate a robust policy towards asylum seekers while it remained signed up to the European convention on human rights. Opting out of this would complete Brexit, he implied. We will never ever solve this problem while we stay signed up to the European convention on human rights, subject to the European court in Strasbourg, and have the incorporation of that law under the Human Rights Act into UK law ... Boris Johnson today talked about an army of human rights lawyers. But he didn’t address the elephant in the room that is the Human Rights Act. And unless we deal with [that] – frankly, unless we complete Brexit – we’re not going to be able to deal with this. The convention, of course, has nothing to do with the EU, but Farage’s comment was an interesting example of how what constitutes proper Brexit is continually being redefined by Brexiters, and made more extreme. And Johnson did not entirely ignore the Human Rights Act. He clearly hinted that he would, if necessary, repeal aspects affecting immigration policy. (See 1.19pm.)