PM ‘hid from blame’ for Windrush crisis
Labour MP launches blistering attack on May
THERESA May was accused yesterday of shirking personal responsibility for the Windrush scandal.
In a blistering attack, Labour MP Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister was “hiding behind” civil servants, Cabinet colleagues and previous governments’ policies.
Cooper was furious after May said during PMQs that she had been one of the MPs who called for “much stronger action from government to bring illegal immigration down” when she was shadow home secretary in 2013.
The chairwoman of Westminster’s home affairs committee was having none of it.
Cooper hit back: “Do not try to hide behind me or the Labour Party when she was warned repeatedly of the damage her obsession with her net migration target was doing.
“Do not try to hide behind the Cabinet when they don’t agree with you on this and are trying to clear up the mess.
“Do not try to hide behind civil servants when she set the policies that instilled in them the culture of disbelief.”
May visibly paled before replying feebly: “Nobody is trying to blame anybody.”
The clash came after Jeremy Corbyn urged Home Secretary Amber Rudd to step down over the fiasco involving Caribbean immigrants.
The Labour leader said Rudd had sought to toughen up the “cruel and misdirected” immigration policies brought in when May was home secretary.