Chris Philp in the Commons on Thursday

Tory MP Chris Philp has claimed the first Rwanda deportation flight was due to take off this week, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Conservative scheme – intending to relocate asylum seekers to east Africa – has since been scrapped by Labour, before forcibly deporting anyone.

The Home Office has since alleged that the Tories spent £700m on the failed plan, and intended to spend up to £10bn expanding it.

But the shadow Commons leader and former Tory minister, Philp, defended the plan on Thursday.

He claimed: “The first flight had been due to take off yesterday.

“It was due to take off yesterday, on July 24, but the........

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