RUDDY, STEADY, NOW GO
Home Sec in desperate bid to save job as crisis grows
AMBER Rudd was last night battling for her job as she was engulfed by the Windrush scandal and a row over deportation targets.
As she faced growing calls to quit, she denied being a “human shield” for Prime Minister Theresa May – her predecessor as Home Secretary.
The SNP’s Alison Thewliss said Rudd’s department were “out of control, marked by cruelty and chaos”.
She added: “Will she stop shielding the Prime Minister? Will she do the honourable thing and resign?”
And Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott told the Commons: “When Lord Carrington resigned over the Falklands, he said it was a matter of honour.
“Isn’t it time that the Home Secretary considered her honour and resigned?”
Rudd said: “I do take seriously my responsibility but I do think I am the person who can put it right.”
Addressing reporters later, Rudd insisted she had not been “used” and launched a last-ditch bid to save her skin.
She said: “There is a lot to do in the Home Office, there are some fantastic people working in the Home Office, there are some real challenges there and some of them have been exposed to me.
“But I can do this, and I can make sure that we make some real changes that will improve the Home Office itself.”
Referring to the scandal of West Indian migrants who wrongly face deportation, she added: “I feel seriously responsible and involved in what we are going to do about addressing the Windrush crisis, fiasco, whatever people call it”
On Wednesday, Rudd denied that targets were used as she was quizzed by a Commons committee probing the scandal.
But her comments appeared at odds with a 2015 inspection report which said the practice did exist.
Yesterday, she said local targets for the removal of illegal immigrants would be scrapped.
And she again refused to support the Tories’ pledge to slash net migration below 100,000.
She refused to back May’s “hostile environment” policy towards illegal immigrants, saying: “I don’t like the phrase.”
Rudd said: “The target was in our manifesto, it is a long-term target.
“The important thing to me is that the net migration target is fair, that it supports businesses and that it continues to come down.”
But No10 slapped her down, insisting: “The Government are committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels. That is in the tens of thousands.”