Amber Rudd Resigns And Vows To Support Home Office Team
By Lucy Caulkett
Amber Rudd has vowed to support the Home Office ministerial team whenever possible on all the important subjects she championed as Home Secretary.
She made reference to the Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism which had led to taking down radical and terrorist material from the internet.
She also reflected on her involvement in ”setting out new laws to tackle the scourge of knife crime and acid attacks, and helping to steer our young people away from a life of crime and violence by providing them with credible alternatives”.
She added that ”opportunities to work on issues that safeguard the vulnerable, champions women and make a lasting impact on people’s lives” particularly stood out for her.
Ms Rudd’s resignation, communicated to Theresa May on Sunday night, came following fresh evidence released from the Guardian Newspaper that her department had operational targets for deporting illegal migrants, something Rudd originally denied. She conceded in her resignation letter that she should have known about it.
Rudd said ”it was with great regret that I am resigning as home secretary”.She said she felt it necessary to do so because she ”inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants during their questions on Windrush”.
”Since appearing before the select committee, I have reviewed the advice I was given on this issue and become aware of information provided to my office which makes mention of targets. I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not”, she said.
Rudd said the Windrush scandal had rightly shone a light on an important issue for the UK. ”As so often, the instincts of the British people are right, she said in a letter to the prime minister. They want people who have a right to live here to be treated fairly and humanely, which has sometimes not been the case. But they also want the government to remove those who don’t have the right to be here”
. She said she had hoped in coming months to devise a policy that would allow the government to meet both these vital objectives – ”including bringing forward urgent legislation to ensure the rights of the Windrush generation are protected.
She said she had hoped in coming months to devise a policy that would allow the government to meet both these vital objectives – including bringing forward urgent legislation to ensure the rights of the Windrush generation are protected. The task force is working well, the residence cards are being issued well within the two weeks promised, and the design of the compensation scheme is making good progress.
”The Home Office is one of the great offices of state”, she said, and its job is to keep people safe. It comes with the responsibility to fight terrorism, support and challenge the police and protect people against the abuse, as well as manage migration”.
APOLOGIES
Rudd and May had offered apologies for the windrush scandal, since its revelations, and the prime minister further promised to compensate windrush immigrants who had been illegally deported. Her offer of compensation was notably progressive, but loud calls from Labour MP, Diane Abbott, for Amber Rudd to resign were eventually responded to when the Guardian’s revelation was released.
Conservative MP’s accused Labour of using the windrush scandal to deflect attention away from the anti semitism allegations in their own party. Conservative Mp’s may even be right, but Labour got what they wanted out of the windrush mega blunder. A resignation was what they demanded.
They’ve got that, and it will now be for whoever replaces her to put the Home office in order, with Theresa May keeping a close eye that they don’t mess up.
Amber Rudd said she had hoped in coming months to devise a policy that would allow the government to meet both these vital objectives – including bringing forward urgent legislation to ensure the rights of the Windrush generation are protected. The task force is working well, the residence cards are being issued well within the two weeks promised, and the design of the compensation scheme is making good progress.
”The Home Office is one of the great offices of state, she said in her resignation letter, and its job is to keep people safe. It comes with the responsibility to fight terrorism, support and challenge the police and protect people against the abuse, as well as manage migration”.
ESTABLISHED
Rudd was an established political force in Downing street , highly regarded among ministers. However, she wasn’t without her enemies. Her failure to stay on top of home office procedures to set targets for illegal immigrants ultimately cost her the high post she had. Setting targets for deporting illegal immigrants was not her main failing. Failure to effectively oversee how the targets were implemented and keeping up to date with developments was where she fell.
News that Home office officials deported hundreds of windrush immigrants who had a legal right to live in Britain, erupted in an investigation in which Rudd was grilled in the Commons about. Affected individuals were asked to provide documents they shouldn’t have been expected to have, and it was later revealed that several of such documents had been destroyed. The debacle led to allegations from the Labour party that Amber Rudd that Theresa May presided over a ”hostile environment”.
Both Rudd and May offered apologies, and the prime minister offered to compensate windrush immigrants who had been illegally deported. Her offer of compensation was notably progressive, but loud calls from Labour MP, Diane Abbott, for Amber Rudd to resign were eventually responded to when the Guardian’s revelation was released. Conservative MP’s accused Labour of using the windrush scandal to deflect attention away from the anti semitism allegations in their own party. Conservative Mp’s may even be right, but Labour got what they wanted out of the windrush mega blunder. A resignation was what they demanded.
CRISIS
However, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott continued her political assault on the Conservative party. She said: “The architect of this crisis, Theresa May, must now step forward to give an immediate, full and honest account of how this inexcusable situation happened on her watch.
“Outstanding questions remain, and a change of Home Secretary must mean a change in the ‘hostile environment’ policies begun by her predecessor, or it will be meaningless.
“The Prime Minister must come before the House of Commons to explain whether she knew that Amber Rudd was misleading Parliament and the public last week about deportation targets.
