Deportation flights ‘up by a quarter’ since Sir Keir Starmer became PM as thousands of asylum seekers are stuck in UK

DEPORTATION flights are up by almost a quarter since Sir Keir Starmer entered No10 — but thousands of rejected asylum seekers and foreign criminals are stuck in the UK.

Home Office figures show 1,240 people were removed between July 5 and the end of August, up 23 per cent from the same period last year.

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Another 2,360 people in that time frame returned to their home voluntarily.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has promised to deport at least 14,385 illegal migrants by the end of the year in a bid to achieve the highest rate of removals since 2018.

It means 10,785 people will have to be removed within four months.

The deportation statistics come as 26,612 people have crossed the Channel to the UK this year already.

But a backlog of asylum cases means almost 225,000 migrants are waiting on initial decisions, appeals, or pending removal from the UK.

Several chartered flights originally destined to take failed asylum seekers to Rwanda were repurposed by the Home Office.

They took migrants to countries including Vietnam and Timor-Leste.