British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday he still expects the government to begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda in the spring, maintaining the original timeline for the scheme which is currently being debated in parliament.

"I'm still committed to the timeline that I set out previously, which is we aim to get a flight off in the spring," Sunak told reporters during a trip to Coventry in central England, referring to planes carrying migrants.

"It is important that we get the Rwanda scheme up and running, because we need to have a deterrent (to illegal migration)."

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)