The controversial plan to fly thousands of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda may never get off the ground, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday that there would be no deportations before a national election in July.

Rishi Sunak has said that no asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda before the election under the government's deportation scheme. It had been thought ministers would try to get the first flight off before polling day, to showcase their flagship policy on countering illegal migration.