Priti Patel warns that 65,000 people could cross the Channel in small boats ...

Priti Patel has warned that up to 65,000 people could cross the Channel in small boats this year - almost double last year's record -  as she seeks to see off external and internal criticism of plans to send thousands of migrants to Rwanda.

She revealed the estimate as Boris Johnson pledged that the first flights taking those illegally arriving in Britain 4,000 miles to east Africa would take off within weeks.  

The Prime Minister pledged to do 'whatever it takes' to push through his landmark scheme to tackle the small-boats crisis in the Channel and smash people trafficking gangs. Some 28,000 people made the perilous journey in 2021.

Revealing details of the dramatic strategy, Mr Johnson said 'tens of thousands' of Channel migrants would be sent with a one-way ticket.

The Daily Mail understands the first flight is expected to leave before the end of next month – and a minister today confirmed anyone who has arrived in Britain this year could be sent.

But critics of the plan continue to attack it over the sheer cost -  estimated at up to £30,000 per person -  and Rwanda's human rights record.  

ITV reported that Home Office civil servants have asked for a ministerial direction from Ms Patel over the scheme - meaning they have concerns over the plan.

Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove told Sky News that it was important to stop people 'putting their lives in the hands of these evil criminal gangs' who run the cross-channel boats, often charging thousands of pounds per person.

'The point I would make is that we are determined to get on and deliver this policy as quickly as possible without needless delay,' he said.

'We are now getting into the stage where we implement this policy quickly and anyone who has arrived in the United Kingdom from January 1 is in scope to be relocated to Rwanda if they've arrived through illegal means.

'That is an important point to get across.

'If you've arrived since then, it could well be that you are transferred as part of this arrangement.'

But Conservative former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said the plan to send migrants to Rwanda was 'immoral' and involved 'eye-watering' costs.

The former international development secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he recognised that ministers were attempting to tackle 'what is a terrible problem' after 28,000 people came to the UK 'illicitly' in 2021.

Mr Mitchell said: 'The Government is quite rightly trying to break the smugglers' sordid and deathly model, and so I am absolutely behind them in doing that.

'The problem with the scheme that they have announced is that I don't think it will work.

'It is impractical, it is being condemned by churches and civil society, it is immoral and, above all for conservative advocates, it is incredible expensive.

'The costs are eye-watering. You're going to send people 6,000 miles into central Africa - it looked when it was discussed in Parliament before that it would actually be cheaper to put each asylum seeker in the Ritz hotel in London.'

Ministers are braced for a fierce legal fight to stop opponents from scuppering the scheme before it starts. Mr Johnson accepted that the plan would be 'challenged in the courts', but insisted he was confident about its legality. 

It came as:

The government wants tens of thousands of people moved within the next few years, but some experts are warning of a surge of Channel crossings before the policy comes into effect, the Times reports.

MP Simon Hoare told the paper: 'All this will do is mean we'll see a vast amount of people trying [to cross] now before this comes in'. 

People smugglers would be encouraging people to cross with a 'must end soon' sale, he added.

The Royal Navy was drafted in yesterday to take charge of operations in the Channel as part of the sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.

Last night, there were howls of protest from opposition party politicians, human rights bodies and campaign groups, who branded the measures as 'evil', 'cruel' and 'unethical'. 

More than 160 British organisations – including Liberty, Stonewall and Greenpeace – all signed an open letter to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary in protest at the deal.

There have also been concerns over the cost of the scheme, with the price of each migrant sent to Rwanda to the taxpayer estimated to be between £20,000 and £30,000.  

This total figure will cover accommodation before departure, a seat on a chartered plane and their first three months of accommodation in Rwanda, the Times reports.

In a major speech in Kent yesterday, Mr Johnson accepted the Rwandan deal was not a 'magic bullet' that will solve the small-boats crisis.

But he said it would 'save countless lives' by breaking the business model of the 'vile people smugglers' who risk turning the Channel into a 'watery graveyard'.

Officials expect thousands who entered the country by illegal means will be removed to Rwanda in the coming years.

Mr Johnson said arrangements with the African country will be 'uncapped', and it had the 'capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead'.

He said the partnership will be 'fully compliant with our international legal obligations', but acknowledged the Government was braced for court challenges.

'If this country is seen as a soft touch for illegal migration by some of our partners, it is precisely because we have such a formidable army of politically motivated lawyers who for years have made it their business to thwart removals and frustrate the Government,' he said.

'So I know that this system will not take effect overnight, but I promise that we will do whatever it takes to deliver this new approach, initially within the limits of the existing legal and constitutional frameworks, but also prepared to explore any and all further legal reforms which may be necessary.'

Miss Patel insisted she was confident she would be able to fend off moves to thwart the plans in the courts. Asked if she is preparing for legal challenges, the Home Secretary said: 'We have to. Well, in the same way in which our political opponents just sort of opine a view, condemn everything that the Government does.

'Number one, they don't have a plan. Number two, they just vote everything down constantly. And as for the lawyers, they are fleecing the British taxpayer. A lot of this is legal aid money that goes into the merry go round of claim after claim after claim.'

Pushed on whether the scheme was reliant on legislation going through Parliament that critics have threatened to vote down, Miss Patel said: 'No, no, it's not. The whole principle of this agreement partnership that we have is not hinged on the Nationality and Borders Bill, let me be clear about that. In terms of domestic litigation, we have worked extensively... the level of detail (in the Memorandum of Understanding setting out the agreement) is forensic.'

The Law Society dismissed Mr Johnson's criticism of lawyers. In a thinly veiled reference to Partygate, its president I. Stephanie Boyce said: 'It is particularly disappointing – this week of all weeks – the Government is repeating misleading suggestions that legal challenges are politically motivated.

'Legal challenges establish if the Government is abiding by its own laws. If the Government wishes to avoid losing court cases, it should act within the law of the land.'

British Red Cross executive director Zoe Abrams said it was 'profoundly concerned' about the proposal to 'send traumatised people halfway round the world'.

The Refugee Council's Enver Solomon urged the Government to 'immediately rethink its plans', and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the plan was 'evil'. 

Plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda from the UK are anticipated to initially see people taken to a hostel in the capital city for processing.

Hope House, a hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of Kigali, is currently being used as accommodation for tourists, according to Rwandan government officials.

Privately owned, the East African nation's government is understood to be in negotiations to lease the property so asylum seekers sent from the UK can stay there temporarily while their claims are processed. It is understood this could take up to three months.

Home Secretary Priti Patel made a private visit to the site today to see an example of what accommodation may be on offer.

This is understood to be Ms Patel's first visit to Rwanda since the deal was thrashed out, after being briefed by Home Office and Foreign Office officials who have been researching the plan.

The complex has 50 rooms at present and can accommodate around 100 people with up to two people per room and sharing communal bathrooms.

But there are plans to expand the facility by building more accommodation blocks, eventually seeing it offer 150 rooms and be able to sleep up to 300 people.

Asylum seekers are expected to be provided meals three times a day to eat in a communal dining room, with some kitchen facilities also available for those with special dietary requirements.

The government's plan has already faced a massive backlash, with claims that it is both cruel and expensive.

Dr Peter William Walsh, Senior Researcher at the Migration Observatory in Oxford, said it would face 'all kinds of logistical challenges'.

He told MailOnline: 'Australia's offshore experiment was beset by all kinds of problems, with people unable to access healthcare, as well as high rates of suicide and abuse. Then there's the financial side to it. 

'The Australian system was thought to be 800 times more expensive to house them offshore than in local centres. It cost one billion Australian dollars (£567m) to house fewer than 300 people.

'There are so many questions about this plan and a lot of scepticism about whether it will actually come to pass given all the challenges it will face.' 

Rwanda is best known in the west for a 1994 ethnic genocide that left up to 800,000 Tutsi people dead and it still has a mixed human rights records.

Amnesty International says there are still concerns over 'enforced disappearances, allegations of torture and excessive use of force'.

Earlier this month the Refugee Minister Lord Harrington said there was 'no possibility' of migrants being sent there. But Boris Johnson today branded it 'dynamic' and one of the safest countries in the world. 

It is understood Channel migrants will be processed in the UK and officials will decide whether they are a genuine asylum seeker.

If they are deemed to be economic migrants, they will be sent to Rwanda, where schemes will be put in place to help them build a new life.

It is thought that in other cases, all asylum processing will take place after the claimant arrives in Rwanda. Britain will pay the costs of their resettlement. 

A source told the Telegraph that the British Army would be involved to prevent 'battles on the quayside', adding: 'They will drive you to the airport and send you straight to Rwanda'.

The Refugee Council charity was among those to urge an immediate rethink of the plan, with chief executive Enver Solomon saying it would not work and would cost the taxpayer around £1.4billion a year as part of the while asylum system.

The United Nations refugee agency also expressed concern over the 'shifting rather than the sharing of responsibilities'.

Labour and Mr Johnson's Tory critics claimed it was an expensive move to switch attention away from the Partygate row which continues to embarrass No10. 

At a press conference today, Priti Patel said the agreement with Rwanda 'fully complies with all international and national law'.

She said the deal is 'in keeping with our vision for global Britain that harnesses the potential for new relationships, and stimulates investments and jobs in partner countries'.

Home Secretary added: 'Working together, the United Kingdom and Rwanda will help make the immigration system fairer, ensure that people are safe and enjoy new opportunities to flourish.'

She said people who enter the UK 'illegally will be considered for relocation' to have their claims decided, adding: 'Those who are resettled will be given the support, including up to five years of training with the help of integration, accommodation, healthcare, so that they can resettle and thrive.'

She added that the UK is making a 'substantial investment in the economic development of Rwanda' which aims to develop the country's economy and support its people. 

'This is very much, number one, a partnership,' she said. 'Clearly we engage in dialogue and we have been for over nine months now.

'But Rwanda has a very unique history in terms of refugees and resettlement, resettlement in particular. First and foremost, Rwanda is a safe and secure country with the respect for the rule of law, and clearly a range of institutions that have evolved and developed over time.

'If I may say so, Rwanda has been very forward leaning, and has been very dynamic in the conversations that we have had as well around, yes, economic growth and the partnership, but respect for people and giving them the ability to find new opportunities, but effectively restart their lives, rebuild careers, potentially, and settle here successfully.' 

An abandoned RAF base in a tiny North Yorkshire village will soon be used to house asylum seekers for up to six months in shipping-style containers and subject them to checks on movements and curfews.  

The decision to use Linton-on-Ouse - population 1,200 - comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to unveil a new hardline immigration policy.

It will see asylum seekers flown 4,000 miles away to Rwanda to have their claims processed following a £120 million deal with the African country.

In the UK migrants will be held in 'Greek-style reception centres', the first of which will be built at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Channel migrants will have to stick to strict rules or else they could lose their right to asylum.  

Home Secretary Priti Patel is modelling the centre on Greek asylum camps where migrants undergo routine checks of their movements and have curfews.   

'If they breach the rules, it could affect their asylum claim,' said a UK government source to the Telegraph. 

'You would be told that you would have to be in by this time. That's fair rules for operating if you provide food and accommodation. The Greeks have things like timings.'