UK charter flight returns 46 offenders to Vietnam and Timor-Leste

Scores of offenders from overseas have been returned to Vietnam and Timor-Leste from the UK on a charter flight, the Home Office has announced.

Yvette Cooper said the removal of 46 people on Wednesday showed the new Labour Government was taking “quick and decisive action” to “secure our borders”.

It is understood the plane carried offenders convicted of a range of crimes and some who had overstayed their visas or entered Britain without leave.

The flight was the UK’s first-ever charter return to Timor-Leste and the first to Vietnam since 2022.

The Home Secretary said: “Today’s flight shows the government is taking quick and decisive action to secure our borders and return those with no right to be here.

“We thank the governments of Vietnam and Timor-Leste for their co-operation, without which this could never have happened.

“Our strong diplomatic bonds with other countries have never been more crucial to our mission to bring order back into the asylum and immigration system, tackling irregular migration, and making sure the rules are properly respected and enforced.”

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer axed the previous Tory government’s flagship deportation scheme to send some migrants to Rwanda.

Ms Cooper told the Commons the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) had cost Britain £700 million and ending it would “immediately” save £750 million earmarked for the policy this year.

Home Office staff would instead be redeployed from the scheme to immigration enforcement and returns, she said.