Rishi Sunak set to ignore EU judges as he prepares to push through Rwanda plan

The Prime Minister’s allies believe he will ignore attempts from the European Court of Human Rights to ground deportation flights.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is understood to support the rumoured move.

WATCH NOW: Politicians answer whether the UK should leave the ECHR

The first flight bound for Rwanda was blocked from taking off at the 11th hour after an unnamed ECHR judge issued a rule 39 interim injunction.

The Supreme Court is due to begin a three-day hearing on October 9, with a ruling expected in November.

High Court judges ruled with the Government on its Rwanda policy but the Court of Appeal ruled in June that the plan to send asylum seekers to the African country could breach their human rights.

Sunak’s Illegal Migration Act enables the Prime Minister to use powers to ignore similar orders from Strasbourg.

“There will be a choice for the Government at that point whether or not to proceed with a flight,” a Whitehall source told The Telegraph.

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“It might be that Strasbourg is cautious at that point about weighing into a very political situation.

“But if they did, then there’s a choice for the Government whether or not to abide by it and pause flights until the case has been heard.

“The most likely outcome would be that we would proceed without waiting for Strasbourg to opine.”

However, not everyone in the Cabinet is not expected to rally behind the move.

Attorney General Victoria Prentis has been identified as a figure who would be particularly “uncomfortable” about disregarding an injunction.

A Government spokesman said: “We are confident in our case and continue to defend the Rwanda partnership in the courts. We will not pre-empt the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

However, the situation appears to fall short of calling for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR altogether.

Braverman recently signalled her desire to leave the ECHR as she warned that the treaties governing the treatment of migrants were not “fit for purpose in an age of jet travel and smartphones”.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch supported the option of keeping withdrawal on the table.

However, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat suggested such a move could create problems for the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also said that he did not "feel that in order to achieve what we need to achieve, to protect our borders, we are necessitated to leave the ECHR".

A group of backbench Tory MPs, dubbed the New Conservatives, are proposing withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Sir Jake Berry, Sir Bill Cash, Miriam Cates, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Sir John Hayes, Danny Kruger, Dame Priti Patel, Sir John Redwood, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg held a meeting to discuss the group’s five-point plan earlier today.