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Boris Johnson Suns Himself on Beach With Family as Travel Chaos Rages Across Britain
---Prime Minister Boris Johnson was photographed with wife Carrie and their two children on the beach in Porthminster, St Ives, as travel chaos continues to rage across Britain
Rwanda Asylum Plan: First Removal Flight Will Take Off, Foreign Secretary Says
---The first flight taking asylum seekers to Rwanda will take off and people who are not removed on Tuesday will be on subsequent flights, Liz Truss has said.
Daily Mirror 14 JUN 2022
Boris Johnson has been snapped sunning himself on a beach with his family as travel chaos rages across the country.
Boris Johnson on the beach in St Ives with wife Carrie and their two children
The Prime Minister, as well as his wife Carrie Johnson and their kids were seen today in Porthminster, St Ives, in Cornwall.
It comes as Britain faces the biggest rail strike in a generation later this month while multiple airports are in daily meltdown due to staffing shortages.
The photos were taken by eagle-eyed beachgoers at 2.30pm on Monday.
The Tory leader was wearing a white shirt and colourful swimming shorts and could be seen in one snap walking along the sea front with a plastic spade.
In another, he is sitting with Carrie and the children Wilfred and Romy.
Earlier in the day Mr Johnson had been at Southern England Farms in Hayle, just eight miles from the beach.
Temperatures are expected to hit 34C later this week in the south of England, with the Johnson’s returning to the site of the G7 Summit this time last year.
Last Wednesday it was confirmed members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on June 21, 23 and 25.
The strikes are over pay, conditions, 2,500 maintenance job cuts and ticket office closures and will cripple the services.
Separately the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is also balloting workers for industrial action that could happen later in the summer.
It came days after the 24-hour Underground strike on Monday (June 6), during which Transport for London (TfL) advised passengers: "Do not travel unless necessary."
Commuters queue for the underground to resume at Waterloo station in London
The union said it will be the biggest strike on the railways since 1989.
The coming months are *threatening to turn into a “summer of discontent” as hundreds of thousands of workers across a raft of sectors gear up for possible industrial acton.
Most want a decent pay rise in the face of soaring inflation.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated the planned rail and tube strikes will cause a hit of at least £91million to the economy, with London set to suffer the biggest output loss.
British Airways passengers queue inside Heathrow airport Terminal 5
Meanwhile, pilots for easyJet have warned customers will turn their backs on the airline following "unprecedented chaos".
A letter from the easyJet branch of the French SNPL pilots’ union said that the airline has cancelled viable flights.
The letter reportedly said that easyJet is suffering “operational meltdowns” after bosses failed to heed staff warnings about surging demand.
Several UK airports which have seen long queues in recent weeks as the aviation sector struggles to cope with the spike in demand for travel.
Gatwick Airport is suffering a "meltdown every night" due to staff shortages in the air traffic control tower, insiders have revealed.
Boris Johnson on Hols, nervously drives tractor and inspects broccoli at Cornish farm
Rwanda Asylum Plan: First Removal Flight Will Take Off, Foreign Secretary Says
---The first flight taking asylum seekers to Rwanda will take off and people who are not removed on Tuesday will be on subsequent flights, Liz Truss has said.
BBC 14 JUN 2022
More than 10,000 people have made the dangerous journey across the Channel this year...
The foreign secretary said it would "establish the principle" and break people traffickers' business models.
Seven or eight people are due to be removed on Tuesday, after dozens won legal cases to be taken off. But more legal challenges are set to be heard.
Church of England leaders described the plan as an "immoral policy".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government will not be "deterred or abashed" by criticism of the plan.
Four more legal challenges from people set to be flown to the east African nation's capital Kigali are expected to be heard in the courts before the flight departs, after a last-ditch attempt to block the flight altogether was rejected by the Court of Appeal on Monday.
On Monday 138 people reached the UK in three boats, with more than 10,000 migrants making the dangerous journey so far this year.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Truss confirmed the flight will depart as scheduled even if only a small number of people were on board, describing it as a "key part of our strategy for tacking the appalling people smugglers who are trading in people's hopes and dreams".
She said: "If people aren't on the flight today, they will be on subsequent flights to Rwanda."
Ms Truss added the government was prepared to "face down" future legal challenges to its plans, adding: "It's about making sure that people have a safe future in Rwanda and we're determined to follow through on it".
Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if the plane would take off even if no one was on board, Ms Truss said she was confident there will people on the flight - but added she was not able to say how many it would be.
However, she said the numbers of people being sent to Rwanda by the end of the year "will be significant".
She also declined to say how much the flight would cost, but argued the cost of human trafficking and illegal immigration was "huge" to the taxpayer.
Boeing 767-35D/ER operated by airline Privileged Style
The flight on Tuesday evening was originally due to carry dozens of passengers, but most succeeded in their individual appeals against removal.
It is not clear exactly how many will leave on the flight: on Monday night, the Home Office said it was eight, while the charity Care4Calais said the number had fallen to seven.
In a letter to the Times, senior Church of England leaders described the plan as an "immoral policy that shames Britain".
Signed by the archbishops of Canterbury and York and more than 20 other bishops who sit in the House of Lords, the letter said that "those to be deported to Rwanda have had no chance to appeal, or reunite with family in Britain".
"They have had no consideration of their asylum claim, recognition of their medical or other needs, or any attempt to understand their predicament."
Speaking in cabinet on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said the government were "going to get on and deliver" on its plan, despite the "criticism that is being directed upon this policy, some of it from slightly unexpected quarters".
He told ministers the objective is to ensure there is a "clear distinction" between immigration to the UK by safe and legal routes that the government supports and "dangerous and illegal cross-Channel migration, which we intend to stop".
Tuesday's flight is due to be the first in a five-year trial, in which some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally are transported to Rwanda to claim refuge there.
They will get accommodation and support while the Rwandan government considers their application, and if they are successful they can stay in the country with up to five years' access to education and support.
If their asylum claim is unsuccessful, they will be offered the chance to apply for other immigration routes, but could face deportation from Rwanda.
The letter to The Times, signed by the entire senior leadership of the Church of England, said those being sent to Rwanda have had no chance to reunite with family in Britain.
"Many are desperate people fleeing unspeakable horrors. These are people Jesus had in mind as he said when we offer hospitality to a stranger, we do it for him," it says.
"We cannot offer asylum to everyone, but we must not outsource our ethical responsibilities, or discard international law - which protects the right to claim asylum."
It's not the first time the Archbishop of Canterbury has criticised the plan - he described it as "the opposite of the nature of God" in his Easter sermon.
At the time, the Home Office responded that the UK had a "proud history" of supporting those in need.
At-a-Glance: The Rwanda Policy So Far
The PM announces the five-year £120m trial in which some asylum seekers will get a one-way ticket to Rwanda
It faces widespread opposition from more than 160 charities and campaign groups, a small number of which launch a legal challenge
Home Office lawyers say the plan is in the public interest - and the High Court agrees
Campaigners appealed against the ruling but are unsuccessful
Judges will consider whether the policy is lawful next month - this could see some people returned to the UK from Rwanda if it is ruled unlawful....
On Monday, appeal court judges ruled the first deportation flight could go ahead, agreeing with a previous judgement that it was in the "public interest" for the government to carry out its policies.
Campaigners had hoped to stop the plane taking off before a full court hearing on whether the policy is lawful next month.
A woman in a crowd holds a sign saying 'stop the plane'
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the plan as "profoundly un-British".
But Rwanda's high commissioner Johnston Busingye earlier defended the partnership, telling the Daily Telegraph people arriving in the country would be treated with "safety, dignity and respect". = £££££...
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