HOME SECRETARY Priti Patel is facing a legal challenge against her plans to send asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda. 

Lawyers for the Freedom from Torture charity have sent a pre-action letter to the Home Office expressing “serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy,” it emerged today. 

The letter, which is expected to lead to a judicial review, requests disclosure of information relating to the plans including documents outlining the policy, risk assessments and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the British and Rwandan governments. 

Under the proposals, asylum-seekers who arrived to Britain via irregular routes from January 1 this year could be sent on a one-way ticket to the east African country. 

Rwanda has been promised a £120 million up-front payment as part of the widely condemned deal, but few other details have been disclosed by the Home Office. 

The legal action comes after the government officially withdrew plans to pushback small boats in the Channel earlier this week. 

The decision, described by campaigners as a “humiliating climbdown,” came just days before a legal action challenging the policy was due to start in the High Court. 

Freedom from Torture chief executive Sonya Sceats said: “We shouldn’t have to resort to legal action for this government to treat refugees with basic human dignity – but here we are again. 

“This cruel plan is not only deeply immoral and likely unlawful, it would also deny torture survivors and others access to vital trauma services like those provided by Freedom from Torture. 

“Up and down the country, people are beginning to mobilise against this government’s cynical efforts to stoke fear and xenophobia against refugees. 

“This action is one part of a wider fight by the caring public to tell the government that this is not in our name.” 

When announcing the deal earlier this month, PM Boris Johnson acknowledged that it would likely face legal challenges.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our new migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda fully complies with all international and national law.

“Whilst we expect the partnership to be challenged in the court, we will defend any legal challenge robustly.”