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Home Office sources have described Priti Patel as a “headless chicken...on a plane to whoever will speak to her!

Priti Patel's new powers to push back Channel crossing boats breach human rights. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said the controversial tactics 'endanger lives' and will fail to deter crossings. It described the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill as "littered" with measures which are "simply incompatible" with the UK's international obligations.

The legality and effectiveness of the tactic has been repeatedly called into question ever since it was first proposed, with campaigners threatening legal action against the Home Secretary.

But Priti Patel has insisted the plan has a "legal basis", although the Home Office's permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft previously conceded that only a "small proportion" of boats could be turned back.

Plans to "criminalise" those arrive in the UK without a visa or through other approved immigration routes are "inconsistent" with the United Nations Refugee Convention, which "explicitly prohibits refugees being penalised for unauthorised entry", the committee said, adding: "Given the limited options refugees have for entering the UK via legal routes the Government should reconsider these measures."