PRESSURE is building on Priti Patel to drop plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda after campaigners lodged a legal challenge against the policy in the High Court today.

The emergency proceedings, launched by Duncan Lewis Solicitors on behalf of charities Care4Calais and Detention Action, civil servants’ union PSC and four people facing deportation to Rwanda, is the first legal challenge of the policy to be put before the courts.

Lawyers argue the policy is unlawful and will challenge whether the Home Secretary has the right to carry out the plans, the rationality of her conclusion that Rwanda is generally a “safe third country” and the adequacy of provision for malaria prevention.