Illegal immigration and the Home Secretary

Tomorrow I read that the Home Secretary will provide another Statement to the Commons on migration matters. Parliament will only know for sure when the Speaker announces topical  business at midday on Monday.

I assume she will reaffirm that no Minister wanted legally settled people who have been here a long time to be sent away, and will confirm that all actions are being taken to complete any outstanding paperwork quickly and helpfully in cases where proper documents have not been issued in past years.  That is what we want and expect, as people welcomed into our country should  not be  put under pressure by the system or have their status placed in doubt. If anyone has been deported wrongly their cases should be reviewed and matters put right as best the government can.

I also trust she will stress as the Prime Minister rightly did last Wednesday the crucial distinction between legal and illegal migrants. Service has to be improved and any errors put right for legal arrivals, but the Home Secretary  will presumably  continue with her tougher  policies towards illegals. Labour seems to wish to muddle this distinction.

The current Home Secretary agrees with the Prime Minister in wishing to reduce net inward migration to the tens of thousands, and is signed up to bringing that about. She issued a Home Office Annual Report for 2016-17 which she presumably approved which was crystal clear about the aim of reducing migration and the policy of removing illegal migrants. The Annual Report reminds us that that the government is committed to “Reducing annual net migration” and sets out how in that most recent year net migration had fallen by 84,000 or 25%.

It also states that a central aim is to “Clamp down on illegal immigration”.  Deporting foreign criminal offenders “remains a priority”. “We continue to use the provisions of the Immigration Act 2014 and by December 2016 over 5700 foreign national offenders had been removed”.

The Report continues with “The Home Office’s approach to returns goes wider than criminal offenders. In January 2016 we broadened our engagement activity in priority countries to maximise returns of all nationals in the UK illegally”. The Report also details numbers of people using the four Resettlement Schemes the Home Office promotes. The Report does not contain any individual targets beneath the general public target to cut net migration, but is peppered with  numbers of how many people are involved in each of the detailed policies to try to implement the general target.

The Home Secretary will be expected to offer a robust defence of her approach , as well as updating us on how she is sorting out problems for those legally here. I also want to know when she is going to share with us the work she should be doing on a UK migration and borders policy for once we have left the EU. It would be wise of her to correct again her slip over the Cabinet’s long standing decision that we will be leaving the customs union when we leave the EU.

136 Comments

  1. oldtimer
    April 29, 2018

    In recent days the Home Secretary and her predecessor have come across, in some quarters, as the nasty party incarnate. She also appears to have difficulty in keeping on top of her mail box.

    As for the customs union idea, that needs to kicked into the long grass. With luck all these attempts to pervert the Brexit negotiations will succeed in scuppering them entirely so that there will be a clear break next March and no transition.

    1. Helen Smith
      April 29, 2018

      That would be wonderful, in reality the plan is to keep us in forever negotiating, how I loathe MPs, Mr Redwood and his fellow Brexiteers excepted of course.

      1. J.White
        April 29, 2018

        I agree. Having watched the debates in parliament the remainers have shown their contempt for 17.4 million people who voted leave. David Cameron clearly stated the decision was the publics, not politicians, not government but ours. Get on with it, we need a PM with a back bone and committed to Brexit to deal with the EU, I was going to join the Conservative Party but having heard Mrs May’s plans for EU Nationals to still have free movement and a customs union, I have decided against joining. I have never wanted a transition deal and hate the fact we will be a vassal state for two years! The Windrush scandal is down to all parties and is being used to say leavers are racist so that we won’t complain about the new immigration plans. I now have no party to vote for.

        1. getahead
          April 29, 2018

          Come back to UKIP Chalkie. We are rebuilding after May’s appalling performance on Brexit.

        2. Narrow Shoulders
          April 30, 2018

          At the risk of victim shaming.

          I lived in a country that I was entitled to be in but not resident for 10 years. I ensured I had paperwork which proved that and kept it close.

          Similarly my wife has been in this country for 10 with leave to remain. I keep every piece of paper that pertains to her residence.

          As soon as she is entitled to a passport I will get one, why wouldn’t you? I keep both sets of my children’s passports up to date, both countries. Again why wouldn’t you?

          Personal responsibility.

          Keep the environment hostile for illegals.

    2. Hope
      April 29, 2018

      Under May the Home Office lost hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, under Rudd the Home Office lost 56,000 illegal immigrants. It is difficult to reconcile the truthful facts with JR’s misleading spin. May made it clear Windrush people were here correctly and legally, presumably the ships manifest could confirm? However, it is clear these people were not treated differently and worse than those ‘lost” to the Home Office. May disenfranchised Windrush people lawfully here by her legislation in 2014. May is more culpable than Rudd, the latter not putting right the failures of May who had 8 years to put the ‘not fit for purpose’ Home Office, per John Reid Labour HS.
      May still charging forward with her Customs partnership, i.e. Staying in the cretinous Customs Union, while pretending otherwise. Contrary to promises, parliamentary votes and Tory manifesto. Enough is enough of this underhand behaviour, time for Corbyn.
      NB, the public voted leave, parliament and Lords wanted to remain. Act on electoral democracy or resign.

      1. margaret howard
        April 29, 2018

        Democracy in this country is a sham. Syria was illegally attacked a couple of weeks ago without parliament being consulted. This is an oligarchy, the voters can’t even vote for their prime minister. Unelected house of lords, head of state, civil service that tells elected MPs what to do – the whole system is a laugh.

        1. Edward2
          May 1, 2018

          Yet you love the EU where such democratic matters are worse.

        2. libertarian
          May 2, 2018

          magaret howard

          You are absolutely right and on top of that some totally dumb people wanted to add another giant layer of unelected buffoons on top of all that , still at least we’ve got rid of the EU layer and we can now start on the others beginning with the abolition of the House of Lords

  2. Nig l
    April 29, 2018

    She should obviously go but I presume Theresa May is keeping her on because she does not want a disaffected ex Minister spilling the beans on how inefficient the Home Office was under her ‘leadership’. Firstly she blamed her officials, interesting back in 2004 when Labour were involved in a visa scandal, the then Minister did exactly the same and Theresa May as Shadow said she should take responsibility and resign. How strange this doesn’t apply now. Pinocchio award to Theresa May.

    Secondly on the basis that illegal immigration is one of the most discussed political topics and therefore has to be one if the Departments KPIs, not to know or claim not to know seems to be grossly incompetent.

    As for the customs union, it obviously wasn’t a slip but a deliberately contrived answer to stay onside with her own and TMs sympathies towards the EU confirmed by a leak of the migration proposals in the Sunday Times which seemingly change little from the current situation.

    A previous Labour Home Secretary quit being honest enough to say she wasn’t up to the job. The country knows Amber Rudd is not either, what a shame neither she nor her colleagues realise that or even worse once again put party politics above the needs of the electorate.

  3. Lifelogic.
    April 29, 2018

    It is also clear that Rudd does not know what is going on in her department. Did the head bureaucrat in the Home Office know? If so why had he not kept Rudd informed properly and why had he not addressed these many outrages?

  4. Andy
    April 29, 2018

    After the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Lord Macpherson said the police were ‘institutionally racist’. This is what he meant:

    “The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin.“

    25 years on from Stephen Lawrence those words clearly apply to the Home Office.

    Windrush and its fallout will bring down the Home Secretary and this lousy government.

    1. rose
      April 29, 2018

      There is an alternative explanation for why Macpherson coined the phrase “Institutional racism”: it is that he couldn’t find any instances of racism or racist behaviour in the police at that time. So he coined that phrase instead, because it can’t be defined or demonstrated in an acceptably logical way.

      1. Lifelogic
        April 29, 2018

        A bit like blaming the computer system. You do not blame the people who organised the computer system just the inanimate computer system. In the same ways you do not blame directly the people who constitute the police. You just blame an inanimate “institution”. But of course this just throws racist mud or worse over all of them. I assume this was what Macpherson wanted to do. It was an outrage and is/was hugely damaging. Had I been in the police I would have resigned when he did this.

        1. Richard1
          April 29, 2018

          Indeed it was a very stupid remark. It tarnished all police as racist in an intellectually lazy way, signalling virtue for its author.

        2. Cheshire Girl
          May 1, 2018

          I agree. I would have resigned too. It was a terrible slur on what is often said to be one of the finest Police Forces in the world.

  5. Andy
    April 29, 2018

    Amber Rudd did not slip the UK will be in an effective customs union with the EU posts Brexit. It is the will of Parliament – and Parliament is sovereign.

    It may not be THE customs union but it will basically be the same thing. I note today that free movement rules will be largely kept the same for EU citizens too.

    Going well this Brexit thing, isn’t it? At this rate by the time the deal is done Mr Davis will have caved in so much that we’ll be using the Euro and speaking French.

    What we need now is for Brexiteers to grow us and start behaving like adults rather than petulant children. You project has already failed. Best scrap it now before you bring us all down.

    1. Jagman84
      April 29, 2018

      Petulant children?

      You need to look in a mirror, pal!

      Sacked all of your staff yet? No?

      Run a company?

      I doubt that you could run a bath!

    2. Denis Cooper
      April 29, 2018

      If it is indeed the will of the UK Parliament that the EU should continue to run the UK’s trade policy even after the UK has left the EU, in obedience to the will of the UK electorate as directly expressed in the referendum, then obviously we need to have a major clear out of the members of that Parliament, both Houses.

      The other day somebody else shocked me on this blog by asking who would set the tariffs if we stayed in the/a customs union with the EU as you wish, so I let the EU itself give the answers to that and other questions:

      http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=493

      “The European Union created a Common Commercial Policy to govern its trade relations with non-EU countries. The creation of a common commercial policy followed as a logical consequence of the formation of a customs union among its Member States. The European Union’s trade policy therefore establishes common rules including, among others, a common customs tariff, a common import and export regime and the undertaking of uniform trade liberalization measures as well as trade defence instruments.

      The Common Commercial Policy is explicitly placed under the exclusive competence of the Union (Article 3 of the Treaty of Lisbon). This confirms existing case-law of the European Court of Justice and means that the Union alone is able to legislate and conclude international agreements in this field.”

      That may be what you want, and you are entitled to your own opinion, but it would be a disgrace if that really was the will of our national Parliament.

      1. Denis Cooper
        April 29, 2018

        Oh, and one aspect of that EU arrangement which seems to have escaped the notice of journalists is that UK authorities already collect the CET customs duties on behalf of the EU when goods are imported into the UK from outside of the EU, and having been allowed to keep 20% to cover our collection costs we remit the remaining 80% to the EU as part of our budget contribution. So in that respect the absurdity with the customs partnership being pushed by a pro-EU senior civil servant close to Theresa May is not that we would start collecting customs duties on behalf of the EU but that we would continue to do it even though we had left the EU. But I have seen it said that the plan also requires the EU to reciprocate by collecting some of our customs duties, and that would be more absurd.

        1. Denis Cooper
          April 29, 2018

          I’ve just seen Steve Baker on TV explaining to a journalist that under the proposed “customs partnership” arrangement we would collect EU customs duties on all imports coming into the UK from outside of the EU without taking the opportunity to inform her that we are already doing precisely that at the moment while we are in the EU … of course I can understand why a Prime Minister who is open about wanting to keep us as close to the EU as possible after we have left should find any such “minimum change” scheme attractive when it is proposed by a senior civil servant who is thinking in the same way, and with both of their hearts filled with regret that we are leaving the EU at all, but this really will not do.

          1. Hope
            April 29, 2018

            Australia made it clear it would Never allow 27 other countries to run its trade policy, May thinks it is acceptable!

            JR, must know by now she is putting two fingers up at the Bexit MPs and the 30 odd million voters who participated in the referendum and particularly the 17.4 million voted leave. All the public must realise May is making the ballot box null and void and is using a small minority in her party to achieve her aim.

    3. Hope
      April 29, 2018

      Traitor Remainers are dong this not leavers.

    4. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Andy, We gave up being ruled by a monarch some time ago. We did not replace the sovereign with a committee instead. We asserted the right of the people to decide on the government. That is what a democracy is: demos kratos – people rule.

      What is not surprising is that when Remain is implemented as you describe: customs union, free movement, Euro, etc; the result is a catastrophic mess – as you describe. Perhaps you should reflect on that?

      1. Andy
        April 29, 2018

        Nice try. Things are fine as they are – as Brexiteers are proving everyday.

        You know, if you guys could just answer the difficult questions Brexit poses it would be so much easier.

        Instead you just insult the people who ask the questions or pretend the questions do not exist.

        1. Hope
          April 29, 2018

          Brexit is easy. Remainers are making it difficult. It is clear to LL no deal is the most attractive option and is totally aligned to May’s original promises and speeches. She is trying to do amBlaire say one thing get it spun, lazy media goes along to con the public and act in stark contrast to what she promised. Cameron tried it and was not very good at it, Osborne came clean and said no one privately believed in I migrationmcuts, JR, deliberately omits this from his misleading blog. It is important because May was the HS when this fake promise to cut to tens of thousands was made by Cameron’s Govt and repeated by May when she was responsible for highest immigration numbers on record and even those were three times lower than the actual number!

        2. Edward2
          April 29, 2018

          I agree with Nick
          It is a legitimate question which people who love the EU never answer.
          The EU is becoming a failure.
          Centralised law making
          Increasingly undemocratic
          Reducing nation states to regions.
          Falling share of world trade
          Low growth
          High unemployment and dreadful levels of youth unemployment.
          With reduced powers of veto the UK is one vote in 28 with 9 paying in the rest taking out, yet each member nation has a vote.
          Despite all these deficiencies you seem perfectly happy with it all.

        3. NickC
          April 29, 2018

          Andy, You are the one saying things are not fine. You don’t like Brexit, but you do not say why. You pretend that Brexit is so terrible for us, yet the vast majority of the nations on the planet are not in the EU. You do not say why out of 166 we would be the one to fail.

          In particular you Remains cannot answer the question why anyone should take any notice of your “second” referendum, or any future referendum or election result, when you won’t accept the 2016 Referendum.

    5. Anonymous
      April 29, 2018

      “Going well this Brexit thing, isn’t it?”

      Sabotaged by Remain but hey, I’m happy to give over to honest Franco German rule than the fake (and highly expensive) Commons and Lords ‘rule’ we had.

      Brexit has called them all out, Andy. It’s a good thing don’t you agree ?

    6. John C.
      April 29, 2018

      The people are sovereign.

    7. margaret
      April 29, 2018

      Who says that my salad days are over? I need salads more than ever and age gives me the edge to be petulant .( although I believe that I have only started really living so I have a lot to learn about politics)

  6. Kenneth
    April 29, 2018

    It’s outrageous that those who were given legal status to remain in the UK should have had their legality questioned (or even deported) due to yet another mistake by the Home Office.

    However, as part of its campaign, the BBC went too far in pushing against targets for deportations. What is wrong with such targets?

    We all know that there are people in the UK who have no right to be here and targets – general and department specific – are a good way to incentivise the authorities to act on the problem.

    1. forthurst
      April 29, 2018

      They weren’t given legal status to remain in the UK; they already had it under the 1948 British Nationality Act, being the first effort by people who have a history of disloyalty to this country to dilute the concept of what it meant to be British. The Empire Windrush in conjunction with a couple of Labour ministers but not the government nor a shortage of bus conductors was the first effort to take advantage of that Act. When the Tory Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 was brought in, it created the situation whereby people who had arrived before it were here legally but without official documentation to prove it.

    2. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Kenneth, I do not trust our civil service. It would not surprise me to learn that the Home Office is deliberately targeting vulnerable long-stay immigrants as a tactic to elicit public support for its opposition to government policy.

      1. Denis Cooper
        April 30, 2018

        Correct.

  7. Mick
    April 29, 2018

    Off topic
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/952515/brexit-news-house-of-lords-eu-uk-lords-debate-european-union-bill
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/952306/brexit-news-eu-uk-david-davis-resign-quit-britain-remain-customs-union
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/952360/brexit-news-brexit-delayed-unless-uk-offers-further-concessions-Guy-Verhofstadt
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/952128/brexit-news-ireland-irish-border-leo-varadkar-theresa-may
    Enough is enough let’s have a General Election so the 17.4 and greatly increased no matter what lies the remoaners and majority media have put out, the remoaners think that they have had the upper hand because of all the media coverage by the Eu loving daily rags and supported tv channels for a second referendum, well I’m up for a fight to protect my country from deepening integration because that’s what’s been happening over our time in the dreaded Eu, the only people who don’t see this is the majority under the London bubble so come on Mrs May call a GE so you and Europe can see the true feeling of the country outside of your protected Westminster bubble

    1. Tasman
      April 29, 2018

      What? You aready had a General Election where Mrs May asked for a mandate for a hard Brexit. The British people said NO, and took away her majority

      1. Alexis
        April 29, 2018

        Mrs May did no such thing.

        She scarcely spoke about Brexit at all during the campaign.

        She ran a presidential style campaign where she carefully avoided all things connected with Brexit (mistake 1), avoided all things connected with small state conservatism (mistake 2), and alienated her core vote by making paying for care some kind of flagship policy (mother of all mistakes).

        Reports indicated that people on the doorsteps assumed naïvely that Brexit was a done deal, and that they could now vote on domestic matters. And they didn’t like what Mrs May said on domestic matters.

        While it was sheer madness to assume Brexit was dealt with, the British people are trusting, believing the government is much as it has always been, despite all evidence to the contrary.

      2. Edward2
        April 29, 2018

        Yet greens and lib dems failed to increase their vote and over 85% of votes went to parties who had manifestos promising to leave the EU.
        Hardly a ringing endorsement of what you have in mind when you use the words soft brexit Tasman.

    2. Peter
      April 29, 2018

      Agreed. No point in muddling along with incompetents at the helm.

    3. JoolsB
      April 29, 2018

      Good idea and this time we need a PM who is a Brexiteer and gets us out asap and that means out of the single market and the customs union, no ifs, no buts. A PM that really means ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ and doesn’t just spout the mantra and that also means a PM that doesn’t know the meaning of capitulation.

      Guess that rules out most of the motley crew that are supposed to represent us.

    4. Lifelogic
      April 29, 2018

      Before we have a “not another one” election the Tories need some proper leadership. A real Conservative with some smaller state, lower taxes and real Brexit vision. Not a dithering, robotic, PC, tax ’till the pip squeak, nasty party, socialist brandishing a punishment manifesto.

      I see that IHT is now raising ÂŁ5.2 billion. Due to the ratting on the ÂŁ1 million promise and the retention of the pathetic ÂŁ325K. It is however doubtless reducing the tax take elsewhere by far more than this. This as it pushes the rich, money and investment out of the UK and deters hard work, savings and investments. Well done ratter Hammond!

      1. Lifelogic
        April 29, 2018

        It raises just ÂŁ5000 per death. What a damaging useless tax it is. It surely reduces the take form other taxes by at least five times this figure and hugely damages the economy.

        Just scrap it.

    5. Peter Wood
      April 29, 2018

      Mick,
      Lets not put the cart before the horse; first we need a new leader for the Conservative Party. (JR-M are you listening?) Remember the mess Mrs May made of the ‘snap election’, how long did that take! Just enough to confirm that she had no plan and is managerially as competent as a librarian in 1950’s Butlin’s camp.

    6. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Mick, Unfortunately the petulant Remains don’t want to accept the will of the people as expressed in our democratic Referendum. That includes Amber Rudd, of course.

      Yet I really do not see why we must vote two, or even three, times before they get the message. I know the EU corruptly forces people to keep voting until we come up with the EU’s preordained answer, but I thought we were a bit better.

      1. Andy
        April 29, 2018

        You confuse the will of you with the will of the people.

        The fact is that Brexiteers do not even agree with each other about what Brexit means.

        1. Edward2
          April 29, 2018

          Yet you claim all remainers share a common vision of the EU’s future.
          Which they do not.

          There is however a common desire among leave supporters to leave the EU.

        2. NickC
          April 29, 2018

          Andy, None of the many things we want for our nation are possible unless the UK is independent of the EU. So basically we do agree. And you still have no idea – you won’t even listen yet you claim to know what we think?

        3. anon
          April 29, 2018

          The will of the people was expressed in the referendum.

          Remain: Lost the vote

          The delay is entirely mischief making by remainers.

  8. acorn
    April 29, 2018

    The UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, will conduct an official visit to the UK from 30 April to 11 May 2018, indicating her mission will pay particular attention to the impact of Brexit on racial equality in the country.

    “My mission across the country, including stops in London and Belfast, will focus on explicit incidents of racism and related intolerance, as well as attention to structural forms of discrimination and exclusion that may have been exacerbated by Brexit,” she said.

    “Xenophobic discrimination and intolerance aimed at refugees, migrants and even British racial, religious and ethnic minorities will also be an important focus.”

    1. Andy
      April 29, 2018

      A sad incitement of Brexit Britain – and the party which gave it to us.

      1. Alexis
        April 29, 2018

        Evidence free nonsense.

      2. NickC
        April 29, 2018

        Andy, Such a sad indictment it’s a wonder that anyone wants to come here. But they do – in order to escape your EU.

    2. forthurst
      April 29, 2018

      I trust she will not find the position of minorities in this country as invidious as that of the farmers in her native South Africa but who knows. The UN is another globalist organisation which we need to leave after Brexit.

      1. Edward2
        April 29, 2018

        Agreed.
        She should be refused entry and deported as an undesirable.

  9. alan jutson
    April 29, 2018

    Just face it John, whilst there may well be good intentions to all of these various projects, the Governments policies with EU rules past and present, which includes other Parties when in power, have been an absolute mess, and we have had little or no control over immigration for decades.

    Once we leave the EU proper will be able to set out our own policies loud and clear.

    Obviously there should be absolute clarity between refugees, legal immigrants and illegal immigrants.

    Immigration into the UK should simply be based on our need, and their skill.
    For too long people have just been allowed to arrive, simply because it is their wish.

    The healthcare and benefits system also needs to be modified so that it to is fit for purpose.

  10. duncan
    April 29, 2018

    Stop pandering the liberal left media and Labour’s client state’s interests. The vast majority of people in the UK are tired of the left’s use of race and immigration as a political weapon to target the Conservative party and use it as a form of slander against them. It appears my party is still clueless about how to respond to such slanders.

    Moreover, the silent majority want strict limits on immigration. Those who come to the Britain to work represent a positive addition to the UK and its interests.

    Most are conscious that Labour, when in government and at local level, use inward migration as an electoral and political tool to boost their client base. Labour will also tweak laws to boost immigration amongst their client base to boost numbers and hence Labor’s electoral grip of certain regions.

    Why my party feel unable to face up and expose Labour for the politicisation of immigration is beyond most Tory supporters

    Yes, May’s on a mission to ‘detoxify’ the Tory party, not that it needs detoxifying. I see this move by this PM as pandering to the left and labour. Labour has succeeded in changing both the nature of Britain and the Tory party specifically

    We have been outflanked simply because those who lead this party are clueless, hopeless and unprincipled

    My party only needs to step up and explain to the British public how Labour use immigration to benefit their party and not the UK.

    My party need only explain to the public that all peoples are welcome to work in the UK but those here illegally will be deported. This stance is no different to other western nations

    My party’s lost its direction on so many issues because it’s allowed itself to be bullied by a London based liberal left media. Focus on the silent majority and become radical

  11. Nigel Parrott
    April 29, 2018

    You have said (over and over again) that your solution to the Irish border is for the UK to leave it wide open and unmanned, and that if there is a physical frontier, it will be the EU’s choice. So every migrant and refugee in the whole of Europe knows they simply have to go to Ireland and then they have an open back door into Britain. So much for your talk about taking back control of our borders!

    1. Ghost of JB
      April 29, 2018

      From where they can go precisely where without valid ID? If this were a real threat to the UK it would be one already, but as Ireland is not in the Schengen zone it isn’t, and your claim is without foundation.

    2. Ian wragg
      April 29, 2018

      And how do the inmmigrants get to the mainland. You have to show a passport to board a train or ferry so it won’t be easy.
      As for Johns last paragraph I don’t think Rudd slipped up. She’s just repeating what Robinson and the PM want.

    3. Jagman84
      April 29, 2018

      Who is to say that this is not happening now? The border is currently unmanned on both sides. Why would exiting the EU change that? We have treaties with the ROI that permit travel to the continent, via the UK. These pre-date our membership of the EEC/EU. Our host is entirely correct. The alleged problem really is of the EU’s making.

    4. Denis Cooper
      April 29, 2018

      You are confused between the movement of people, which was covered by the Common Travel Area long before the UK and the Irish Republic both joined the EEC, as acknowledged in Protocol (No 20) attached to the EU treaties:

      https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012E%2FPRO%2F20

      and the movement of goods, where there were inspections at the border prior to the advent of the EU Single Market in January 1993.

      Note that the checks at this and other internal borders of the EEC did not cease with the Customs Union but with the Single Market.

    5. Helen Smith
      April 29, 2018

      They have to get to Ireland first though, airlines and shipping countries should not allow on a passenger who does not have legal right of entry to the country of destination so it is not that simple. Easier to hold up a lorry at Calais in fact. If it was that simple they would just catch a plane direct from their home country to the UK.

    6. forthurst
      April 29, 2018

      When did Eire announce they would join Schengen after we left? I must have missed that.

    7. rose
      April 29, 2018

      On the contrary, they know it is far easier through Calais.

      1. hefner
        April 29, 2018

        Oh, please. Come on. I have done the Folkestone-Calais-Folkestone three times since the beginning of the year 2018. Have any of you recently gone through the Eurotunnel car terminal and/or the lorry terminal these last two years? Have you seen the kilometres of double 3m fences? Have you had your vehicle stopped, checked for presence of “immigrants” and/or drugs, your boot opened, your passengers asked not only for papers but for reasons to go to the UK (when they have been legal residents here for 32 years with proper IDs issued in London consulates, and UK addresses, no benefits whatsoever, and some ÂŁ10-30k tax paid every year to HMRC)?
        And some of you on this blog go on every day with things like the above comment: “far easier through Calais”.
        BTW, rose, are you a Russian bot?

    8. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Nigel Parrott, There is a sea border between Eire and the EU, you may have noticed. That will severely restrict the flow. The few migrants who make it to Eire may indeed travel to Northern Ireland but then what? They won’t be entitled to a NINo, or benefits, or NHS care, or a job. So what’s in it for them, apart from escaping from the EU?

  12. formula57
    April 29, 2018

    Rudd and her Home Office have let us all down badly through their maladroit administration such that her now offering “…a robust defence of her approach…” will not be sufficient.

    1. Peter
      April 29, 2018

      Rudd is an example of the modern trend in politics:-

      Never accept responsibility.

      Never fall on your sword.

      The buck NEVER stops here.

      Always seek to blame others.

      1. Andy
        April 29, 2018

        Word on the street is that Rudd tried to reign on Saturday but No10 would not let her. Prepare for a general election.

    2. Nig l
      April 29, 2018

      Pity she didn’t have a robust approach in the first place. Why is it politicians and the civil service generally always say they will do it better next time or things are improving? Presumably right first time isn’t taught in the public sector?

  13. Richard1
    April 29, 2018

    The Windrush fiasco is certainly very bad. But let’s get it in perspective. It’s an administrative blunder not an intentional persecution. It affects a few hundred individuals. No one has actually been deported who shouldn’t have been. Compensation will be given, eg to people who’ve been wrongly charged for healthcare on the NHS. The contrived, faux outrage of ridiculous Mr Corbyn is contemptible though I guess no surprise. There is no reasoned political debate anymore just pointing and shrieking. Gove is right, the drip feeding of leaks by the Guardian (fed to the BBC) against the Govt is an attempt by the Labour Party and its supporters to divert attention from the much more serious issue of anti semitism in the Labour Party. That is more serious because there really are malign intentions in that case.

    1. alan jutson
      April 29, 2018

      Richard1

      The Windrush fiasco is a drastic failure of the Appeals procedure.

      How can someone who can prove through: HMRC Tax paid, National Insurance Contributions Paid, Council tax/Community charge paid, School records proven, Driving licence holder, etc, etc, over very many years, be regarded as being here illegally, with no right to stay when all of these State departments have said its OK.

      I am no fan of Amber Rudd and her views on Remain/Brexit, but surely the reasons being discussed to get rid of her are like trying to dance on the head of a pin.

      She may be the present person in overall Charge, but many failures by many others before her, and by people lower in the command chain below her should go first.

      1. a-tracy
        April 30, 2018

        alan you forgot the Census records too “Householders are legally responsible for completing a census questionnaire and for including all appropriate household members and visitors”. Why can’t a simple check of the census records for each Windrush person be allowed as their proof.

        1. UK CENSUS record
        2. PAYE record
        3. NI record
        4. Proof of paying bills
        5. Bank account showing transactions
        6. Local Government records of Council tax
        7. If they didn’t earn enough to pay NI there will be benefit records

        Why is this so difficult for the government to check? In order to obtain benefits for housing, pension credits etc. all of these checks will need to be done by the authorities so just do them now.

        In 1981 when the legal act changed when their Country decided to go Independent were the citizens here written to, how would they know they had to register in the UK?

    2. Lifelogic
      April 29, 2018

      The good thing about this “administrative blunder” is that it reminds us all of how very unpleasant and misguided people like Lammy and indeed virtually all of the shadow cabinet really are.

    3. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Richard1, That Labour are attempting to cover up their anti-semitism is a very good point.

    4. Dave , Spencers Wood
      April 29, 2018

      It’s a farce! The Home Office deliberately harrassed and tried to deport people who have every right to be here. People have had healthcare denied to them, driving licenses confiscated, lost jobs, homes and everything they own. And this was all done whilst the current PM was the minister in charge. But hey, no harm done.

      This shower couldn’t run a bath. Forget what the Opposition say, that is just noise. If this were a private company the PM and HS would be fired for gross incompetence. And it makes this country look a laughing stock. It is a symptom of the maladministration of this country at the moment , from the roads that are falling apart, warships which overheat once they go south of the Bay of Biscay, a health service that is not fit for purpose and a housing market that is not providing enough affordable homes for the people actually generating the wealth of this nation. Makes one wish we still had Thatcher running things, at least she wouldn’t allow such a pig’s ear to be made of everything.

  14. agricola
    April 29, 2018

    No doubt, belonging to the EU has mudded the waters on illegal immigration and the rights of illegal immigrants. Among politicians , civil servants, and every cry on my sleeve charity in the country there seems to be a sense of guilt in denying illegals access to the UK. The Blair government positively encouraged dubious immigration to enhance it’s vote. etc ed

    I will believe the governments policy on illegal immigration when those arrested from the backs of lorries are shipped back the same day. As it currently appears it is a shambles. Authority will always go for the soft cases, which is how they disgracefully got involved with Windrush.

    Anyone wishing to claim asylum in the UK should apply at the UK embassy in the first safe country they find themselves . Our embassies in Turkey, Greece and Italy would seem the obvious choices at present.

    One way of weeding out the estimated two million illegals currently in the UK would be the introduction of a national identity card. Those without such after about two years would merit investigation as to why. From such a card all UK services could flow. To achieve it I would open passport offices in every town ,with comprehensive computer backing. Application with all documentary backing could then be made. After a few years we should know who is legal and who is not.

    If rehabilitation is the purpose of prison, but illegals are expelled after sentence completion, I see no point in paying for their imprisonment. Ship them out on conviction to their home country with details of their conviction, at no further cost to the UK.-

    The key to it all is what happens when we leave the EU. If nothing you will know that you are still governed by the same woolly liberal thinking as now.

    1. agricola
      April 29, 2018

      Ever the bridesmaid never the bride.

  15. Sir Joe Soap
    April 29, 2018

    Here endeth the first lesson from Conservative Central office

  16. Nigel
    April 29, 2018

    Was it really a slip?

    1. Igabomb
      April 29, 2018

      No, just testing the water.

  17. EpĂ­kouros
    April 29, 2018

    The left is all over the place as usual on this subject. As I understand it it was under Labour the Windrush fiasco was born and now they attempt to blame the Conservatives. Smoke and mirrors are of course common devices used by the left. Government is inherently incompetent so needs very gifted people to be at its helm. The left never provides any and the Conservatives do provide some from time to time. Margaret Thatcher was one but since her especially now most gifted Conservatives are either sitting on the back benches and too few are in the most influential cabinet positions. Such as prime minister and chancellor.

    1. JoolsB
      April 29, 2018

      So true. Sadly for us, the problem is there are very few true Conservatives in the party calling themselves Conservative at the moment. It’s only thanks to ultra leftie Corbyn that they are not seen for the true Liberal/socialists that they really are. We deserve better.

  18. Iain Gill
    April 29, 2018

    Come on john! The requirement for people with indefinite leave to remain visas in their passport to spend a lot of money to get an id card to be able to get a job or rent a house is ridiculous.
    Far too much hassle for legitimate residents and far too little action on illegal immigration, and cutting down numbers allowed in.

  19. Mark B
    April 29, 2018

    Good morning.

    The current Home Secretary agrees with the Prime Minister in wishing ,/b>. . .

    Wishing being the operative word. I can wish for this or that but, wishing it is not the same as actually doing it. What we are witnessing here is a play on words. What we need to ‘see’ is hardened policy followed by action. What we have is a government afraid of its own shadow.

    What has to be made clear is, have officials in the Home Office been following the law ? The law laid down by parliament and MP’s. If they have, then these immigrants or children of immigrants, whether we feel they have been treated rightly or wrongly, have broken the law. No if parliament wishes to act in a different way then it needs to be clear as to why ?

    As to immigration, as I have repeatedly stated before, the UK cannot currently stop EU immigration but, and this is important, it can stop non-EU immigration. Non-EU immigration is currently running far higher than EU, so I do not believe the government is anyway serious about numbers.

    We also need to stop people from :

    a) Having dual (UK and other) nationalities. You either are a citizen of this great country or not ! You want to be Irish Mr. Actor or Ms. Actress for tax reasons, then be so, and live here as a foreigner.

    b) Stop giving UK Citizenships to people – FULL STOP !!! People can reside here under some other scheme but only be allowed to apply after 10 years with no criminal record and full contributions. If we aspire to be a great country that attracts the best and the brightest, then we need this to prevent us accepting people who may see us as a Milch-cow.

    Of course we must not forget that the current HS is only carry on from what the previous HS left her. So I am not surprised that the current PM has to support the HS as we all know who is really to blame.

  20. Roy Grainger
    April 29, 2018

    Migration policy post-Brexit seems to be a negotiating point May is willing to concede in her trade negotiations with the EU. Linewise fishing policy.

  21. Anonymous
    April 29, 2018

    The British people had been tolerant, generous and open to migration, so much so that the UK became Europe’s #1 destination. Blair ruined it. The leftist London metropolitan elite was forced to correct Blair’s errors but did so in the most reluctant, bad tempered and crass way – delivering a version of migration control that it thought bigoted people wanted.

    All we have ever asked for is an Australian/Canadian* type points system to bring back under control levels of migration that have got way out of hand. What is so difficult about that ?

    Instead we get a complete and deliberate cock up and “We told you so !” from the bossy Head Girls.

    We see similar failure to deliver on such things when local people ask for council tax to be capped. The bad tempered elite close public toilets but keep 5-a-day coordinators on the payroll replete with “We told you so !”

    *Pre empting Idiotic Andy. Yes. I know Australian immigration is up but they are getting the people that they choose at the levels that they need.

    1. Peter
      April 29, 2018

      Correct. Labour wanted to rub the Conservatives nose in diversity (or some such phrase). May and Rudd continued and built upon the trend of incompetence in the Home Office. May was certainly there long enough to improve things but she did not.

      Now when they get found out there is no resignation, no acceptance. Instead we get reactions intended to buy favour with the affected community – a Stephen Lawrence Day, Boris Johnson’s proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants.

      Those who use victimhood as a weapon see this as a sign of weakness and play on it.

      The same happens to the Labour Party but anti semitism is the card played there.

    2. Timaction
      April 29, 2018

      Indeed. However it,s being reported elsewhere that Ms Rudd wants to negotiate free movement AFTER Brexit with the EU. We dont need two systems but one easy points based system for the world and an end to family chain migration. We are full and don’t need more people.

    3. Helen Smith
      April 29, 2018

      Australian immigration is up because they want it to be up, when they want to reduce it it will come down. Local council shut libraries, swimming pools, sacked lollipop ladies, got rid of services and useful staff but as you say not a single diversity coordinator lost their job.

    4. rose
      April 29, 2018

      Very good.

    5. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Anon 8:32am, Exactly. The establishment target exemplary long-term migrants to nudge the electorate into accepting an open door policy. It is noteworthy that they fail to deport illegals, criminals, and health tourists. We are not here to provide welfare and healthcare to the world; or even jobs.

    6. Alexis
      April 29, 2018

      They just picked the easiest targets. The ones least likely to raise a stink: the ones who don’t have numerous ‘charities’ and shadowy NGOs to protect their interests.

  22. Thames Trader
    April 29, 2018

    This is a most appalling example of government department incompetence. Amongst all the follow-up discussion I haven’t seen anyone focus on what, to me, is the key issue. How can any reasonable organisation expect ordinary people to be able to produce documentation of their lives from 40 or more years ago ? Particularly when the department involved has disposed of its own documentation. Most people would struggle to produce anything more than 10 years old. I’m pretty organised and can go back 25 years but beyond that, very little. There are stories of people producing 30 years of documents and being told it’s not enough. The callousness involved in sending people who’ve lived in the country for most of their lives to immigration removal centres is beyond belief. The British are a tolerant people whereas this is officialdom pumped up to a level that is off the scale. This whole affair is really nasty, smacks of nazi germany and is thoroughly un-British. It’s the managers and officials that should be hung out to dry, not the minister.

    1. Denis Cooper
      April 29, 2018

      And apparently no conscientious civil servant at any level ever thought “This policy is going very badly wrong on the ground and the Home Secretary should be told straight away so that it can be put right”. Instead we have disloyal civil servants thinking “This policy has been going very badly wrong on the ground for a long time and journalists should be told about it so they can use that leaked information to undermine the Home Secretary, and the Prime Minister, and so hopefully bring down this Tory government, and maybe even put a stop to Brexit as well.”

  23. Sakara Gold
    April 29, 2018

    In 2006, the the then Labour Home Secretary John Reid famously admitted that the Home Office Immigration Directorate was “not fit for purpose” and promised that heads would roll. He is on record as having stated “Our system is not fit for purpose. It is inadequate in terms of its scope, it is inadequate in terms of its information technology, leadership, management systems and processes,”

    In 2007, the London School of Economics produced a report estimating the number of ‘irregular’ migrants at 533,000.

    David Wood, who was head of immigration enforcement at the Home Office until 2015, was reported in the Telegraph as stating that more than 1.2million illegal immigrants are currently living in Britain, predominantly after overstaying their visas. These are the people the Home Office should be deporting, not Windrush generation grandmothers who have contributed to the development of the country!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/15/hundreds-thousands-illegal-immigrants-drop-radar-uk-every-year/

    People are not aware of the scale of the problem because official figures are not published and Home Office estimates for illegal immigrants are kept secret as the issue is so sensitive.

    Theresa May had ample opportunity to deal with the problem during her tenure as Home Secretary – but failed to do so. Rudd and May should both resign. The Home Office empire should be broken up and senior heads should roll. Or is that to much to expect from allegedly principled politicians?

  24. BOF
    April 29, 2018

    How sad that the incompetence displayed by Amber Rudd has even managed to make Diane Abbott sound plausible. Even if she has not knowingly misled Parliament, she still comes across as someone with little knowledge of her brief. Even the articulate Michael Gove struggled to support her.

    Meanwhile, as you say, Labour makes capital and deliberately changes the story to include all migrants. In the middle of all this I was particularly disappointed to hear the Foreign Secretary suggest an amnesty for illegals who have been here more than ten years! What proof will there be and will that not encourage a further flood of illegal migrants? Just another futile attempt to take ground from Labour?

    After eight years of promises to reduce migration this must happen. Also,illegal is Illegal and they must be removed or it will become another stick for the electorate to beat the Government with.

  25. a-tracy
    April 29, 2018

    Gove said that Rudd was “a highly talented and highly effective minister”. Give us examples, because we have a Minister who from the outside appears not to know her department targets, mission statement and reason etre. A department where knife crime is out of control and allows Major Khan to pass the buck to her and your governments spending cuts.

    Isn’t everyone that came into the UK on a boat or plane legally on a passenger list, and they will be on another passenger list if they leave, surely the computer system this is stored on can be asked to give a record, if not it’s quite a simple IT system upgrade. Why is this all being made so complicated, are the governments systems so poor? We are quite willing as a government to spend millions updating systems to record art but we don’t record properly our most valuable resource our nations people.

    Rudd has been in the job since the last election in May 2017, so more than enough time to learn what the staff in her department are told to do.

    1. Lifelogic
      April 29, 2018

      Well Gove has gone rather potty too. He lumbered us with May by knifing Boris (costing me my wages) and even suggested putting VAT on school fees – at least he has abandoned his banning electric dog collars lunacy!

      1. Lifelogic
        April 29, 2018

        cost me my wager not “wages”.

    2. Hope
      April 29, 2018

      Immigration the biggest issue of the electorate shown by countless surveys at the elections, Home Office centre to all matters on this and Rudd not aware! Twelve years ago Reid said the department was not fit for purpose, what has May or Rudd done? When researching your ancestry you can look up a ships manifest, not difficult, why is the Home Office unable to do this?
      Rudd is a disaster, stop and search curtailed under May, serious crime through the roof, insecure borders where three attrocities occurred last year, released EU murderers and convicted serious offenders can wonder in and out the U.K. without supervision and commit crime again!
      The worse serial rapist in living memory, Warbouys, was going to be released until Khan intervened! No wonder the incompetent Gauke is supporting Rudd.

      Then we have the biggest failure to date, the humiliating EU capitulation by incremental steps. It is dreadful to watch. May is a disaster. She has been found out. Stop defending the indefensible. She has to go and so does Rudd.

    3. rose
      April 29, 2018

      Gove knows she would be extremely dangerous on the back bench.

      1. Igabomb
        April 29, 2018

        Ha, ha, ha, thanks for that.

    4. Ian wragg
      April 29, 2018

      Rudd is a failed business woman who is In politics through family connections. She has never achieved anything useful and appears to be continuing in the same vane.
      I’m sure John will delete this as we have to maintain the illusion.

  26. William Long
    April 29, 2018

    One of the jobs, and supposed exertises, of a politician is to foresee the issues that will cause people concern and deal with them, or justify them, ahead of a furore breaking out. Whether or not Ms Rudd ( and before her Mrs May) knew that the Home Office had targets for the return of immigrants, there was plenty of warning about the Windrush affair from people affected contacting their MPs. This should have raised alarm bells with the Home Secretary of the day but clearly it passed by Ms Rudd entirely. She failed at her job and should resign.

  27. Fed Up and Angry
    April 29, 2018

    Conservatives = Brexit In Name Only.

    1. GrandpaC
      April 29, 2018

      Fed up and angry..can’t blame them too much..all of this started decades ago with tory jingoism and gutter press resulting in the surprise referendum result in june 2016. Since then they the government and the tory party have been struggling with the problem of how to deliver..indeed on what to deliver..it was too simplistic to start with but now after this time interval of nearly two years tearing ourselves and the whole thing apart we know that a solution to where wr are going and where we want to go is far more complicated and complex than we could ever have imagined..and the Labour party under Corbyn, speaking out of the two sides of his mouth, has not been very helpful either..Sure we can walk away..walk away to where?..but then what? There is nothing out there..no new international trade deals that can ever compensate for a loss of partnership with the biggest trading bloc on the planet, with over 500 million people with huge spending power, located right on our own doorstep..so new trade deals with countries on the other side of the world?? like ‘back to the future’?? Come on ..give us a break!

  28. Man of Kent
    April 29, 2018

    The biggest error of judgement was the refusal of TM to meet the Caribbean Heads of Government as long ago as last Monday Week .

    Given that that was CHOGM week , held in this country for the first time in 22[?] years ,with HMQ due to hand over to Prince Charles – a move requiring virtual unanimity from the Heads – TM and AR suddenly woke up to the fact that their small-minded managerialism could place HMQ in an impossible position .

    Thank goodness they woke up just in time .

    But with this sort of record they cannot be trusted with Brexit .
    Both should go now !

  29. Remington Norman
    April 29, 2018

    John,

    The government haven’t a clue how many illegals are in the UK. How, therefore, can they identify and deport them?

  30. Brian Tomkinson
    April 29, 2018

    This has become no more than cheap party politics. I have stated before that I can remember no time when the calibre of MPs was so low, including the front benches. To imagine a choice between Amber Rudd and Dianne Abbott as Home Secretary is frightening without considering the other (leftists ed) – McDonnell and Corbyn. Just why Amber Rudd fell into the trap set for her by Yvette Cooper when she asked about targets shows her naivety. There were targets and a “hostile environment” well back into the early 1990s Labour governments. The question and answer showed both sides feigning ignorance of this fact.
    As for leaving the customs union, who believes a word any politician utters? Duplicity and mendacity reign supreme in Westminster.

  31. HarveyG
    April 29, 2018

    Would love if you could get Liam Fox to speak out and reassure us ovrr these new international trade deals we can expect..if the deals are there well then good enough but if the deals are not there then we had bettet stay in some form of CU with europe..likewise we will probably have to settle for FTA with them that will be bespoke but keep us in the SM so that we can continue trading with them re financial services etc..don’t see any other way

    All this will mean being tied into the EU, paying for access but having no say at the high table and with no change to movement of people…last week DD was over in NI visiting the border region for a couple of hours..this week Barnier is going over for three days to inspect the whole thing from both sides..that is the difference between the negotiating sides..am afraid we are sunk

  32. hans christian ivers
    April 29, 2018

    John

    I see no reason why she needs to clarify further her slip of the tongue on the “Customs Union”, she has apologized and corrected her statement, already.

    The rest is just internal Conservative squabbles

    1. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Hans, As usual you miss the point for us. Remains like Amber Rudd manoeuvring us into a customs union is a matter of democracy, and trust. BINO isn’t democratic and we don’t trust her.

  33. rose
    April 29, 2018

    https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1973/jan/25/immigration

    It is instructive to read Robert Carr’s speech on his immigration act. He, it was, who should perhaps have done more to secure these British subjects’ residence here but he had the right idea about numbers, border control, and reasonableness.

  34. DaveM
    April 29, 2018

    Perhaps if there was an English Parliament to deal with English internal affairs and administration the U.K. Home Secretary would be able to properly grip U.K. internal affairs.

  35. English Pensioner
    April 29, 2018

    There should be an enquiry into why the ‘Windrush’ records were destroyed. It was apparently authorised by a Labour Minister although it wasn’t carried out until later. But why did a senior Civil Servant recommend that they were destroyed? It is ludicrous to claim there was no space, maybe not where they were, but there must be space elsewhere. Why weren’t they scanned, the technology was available at the time? One doesn’t expect a minister to get involved in such detail and it strikes me that it is a matter of gross incompetence by Civil Servants. In my view heads should roll at the Home Office.

  36. Norman
    April 29, 2018

    The truth is, the whole issue of immigration is so very difficult, requiring great wisdom.
    Politically, and practically, there have to be sensible limits – particularly with regard to migration from the EU.
    When it comes to asylum seekers, we have to balance compassion with legitimacy – almost impossible for officials to get right without a crass hardening of heart, such as appears to have been the case with the Windrush debacle.
    To illustrate, this recent BBC News clip shows asylum seekers enjoying a day out on a sheep farm, and the work of the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and other charities in the North of England. Such initiatives display what a difference such work can make in the lives of many unfortunate people, and I trust most of us would hope typifies the level of human decency expected of our country.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-43882093/crossing-divides-yorkshire-dales-farmer-works-with-asylum-seekers

    1. NickC
      April 29, 2018

      Norman, That may be well-meaning sentimentality, but it is wrong. The Windrush generation were not “asylum seekers” but immigrants welcomed into the UK, who have worked and paid taxes for decades. The recent migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean into southern EU have no right to be in the UK at all.

      1. Norman
        April 29, 2018

        Nick, you are wrong to confuse compassion with sentimentality. Since the so-called Arab Spring, we’re dealing with a human problem of increasing proportions, aided and abetted by profiteering people traffickers. This must make it very difficult for Home Office staff to help genuine ASYLUM seekers. Politically driven targets won’t help officials get the necessary judgements right. I’m glad to think that various Third Sector groups around the country are helping these people, so that even if they have to be turned away, they’ll never forget the kindness shown by some in this country.

        1. NickC
          April 30, 2018

          Norman, The people you claim “compassion” for have reached safety in mainland euro countries, before they get to the UK. According to UN rules they have no right to be here. It is you that has confused compassion with sentimentality.

  37. Michael
    April 29, 2018

    Amber Rudd has alienated a lot of people..

    – religious groups on a range of issues

    – minority groups because of immigration problems under her watch

    – Brexiteers

    – supporters of Boris Johnson

    Who will throw her a lifebelt?

    1. rose
      April 29, 2018

      Ed Vaizey assured us the other night that she is very popular in the party. Remainers regard her as their leader and are they not in the majority? That is why, Brexiteers fear, she could wreck what is left of Brexit if she were on the back benches. And both wings want to keep her where she is, the PM most of all, to avoid the PM being next.

  38. PaulDirac
    April 29, 2018

    A. Rudd has now crossed several red lines:
    She is proposing a “softening” of the principle of immigration control allowing EU citizens free entry for ever, essentially as part of the bargaining for a trade deal.
    This is a infantile move, once you agree for free movement to be “on the table”, the EU will jump in and force the issue.
    Freedom of movement will inevitably mean a continuation of ECJ hegemony and the end of the sovereignty dream.
    She has also supporting the idea of some fudge on the issue of custom union.

    The bottom line is cancellation of Brexit or BINO.

    1. Anonymous
      April 29, 2018

      It’s what happens when you put Head Girl Prefects in charge of things.

      (I respect Thatcher and the Queen before I am accused.)

  39. margaret
    April 29, 2018

    It is sad that the people who have lived here for most of their lives are targeted whilst those who came over to be with their families in the last few months , go back home to get married and bring their new husbands back can stay and repopulate; but there again it is safe to be objective and talk of numbers and stats rather than give an ethical opinion.

  40. gregory martin
    April 29, 2018

    SITUATION VACANT

  41. Andy
    April 29, 2018

    One down.

    PM next – and then this rotten to the core Tory govt.

    At this rate Corbyn will be PM by Christmas.

    The hard Brexiteers have gifted us a socialist government.

    1. Edward2
      April 30, 2018

      You said that last Chistmas too Andy

  42. Agatha
    April 29, 2018

    Then there were nine.

  43. duncan
    April 29, 2018

    Rudd resigns and my party’s made to look like a bunch of idiotic amateurs

    May’s siding with the remainiacs in the treacherous Civil Service who are working hard with this PM to thwart our exit from the EU and indeed working hard to circumvent democracy

    Under this PM we are slowly heading towards a subtle form of authoritarianism in which a political elite is able to snub their nose up at democracy whenever the decisions it delivers are inconvenient

    Just a big thanks to all those Tory MPs who voted for May at the last Tory party leadership election. Well done, your actions have undermined our EU exit and installed a PM who is socialist and authoritarian

    I hope you’re all content with your selfish actions

  44. LondonBob
    April 30, 2018

    The disgrace is the failure to deport illegal immigrants and the failure to bring down immigration figures. I am afraid the government has carved to a thinly disguised media campaign.

  45. mancunius
    April 30, 2018

    John – ask yourself: Cui bono?

    Two things are clear:
    1) This whole story was carefully drip-fed by (someone in the know ed) to the Guardian and the other leftwing press, in such a way as to blur the lines of principle, to undermine and blacken any present and future attempts to find and deport illegal immigrants, and to willify Brexit.
    2) The leaks have have persistently emphasised the implications for post-Brexit UK certification of existing EU migrant citizens here, and deliberately stirred up their fears, thus weakening Britain’s negotiating position.

    This is not chance or coincidence – it has been planned and executed with care.

    1. mancunius
      April 30, 2018

      ‘villify’

  46. APL
    April 30, 2018

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/30/how-windrush-scandal-fall-amber-rudd-timeline

    The Guardian provides a thumbnail of the people been affected. It seems largely to be people who have lived in the UK for more than 50 years, but never bothered to apply for citizenship.

    One might conclude that they never wanted citizenship – if you haven’t applied for it in half a lifetime.

    This is a corker from the article:

    “The home secretary says the Home Office will waive citizenship fees for the Windrush generation and their families and any charges for returning to the UK for those who had retired to their countries of origin after making their lives here. It will also scrap language and British knowledge tests.”

    1. They have retired to their country of origin. That is a statement right there. They no longer wish to live in the UK.
    2. The language tests will be scrapped, why? After 50 years, they should pass them with flying colours.
    3. What’s special about people who should have but couldn’t be bothered to apply for British citizenship, that the citizen ship fee should be waived?

  47. Ian Pennell
    April 30, 2018

    Dear Mr Redwood.

    It is the incompetence of Ministers in a Conservative government, perceived or otherwise, combined with a Minister to be found out as having lied that are the serious matters of concern. The electorate don’t like governments who are beset with apparent incompetence and deceit from top ministers just puts the icing on the cake as far as the voters are concerned.

    What brilliant timing all this is, and we have a fifth Minister resigning (or being forced out) within a year. Jeremy Corbyn will be able to wipe the floor with Theresa May on Wednesday and then the following day we have the local elections. It is a disaster!

    Just when the Conservatives need to be able to campaign so that we can fire a shot between the bows of the Brexit-thwarting Left in the local elections. You need to remind your Conservative colleagues that Competence in office and complete probity are hard-won and the reputation of being trustworthy in government is easy to lose. Above all, the Conservative Party has lost support from ethnic minority groups as a result of the Windrush Scandal, it will take years of hard work to get that support back.

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