Rudd fights calls to resign as she apologises for being unaware of Home Office deportation targets

Home secretary Amber Rudd resisted calls to resign last night, as she apologised for being unaware of deportation targets that had been set in her department.

Writing on Twitter, the cabinet minister apologised for not knowing about the targets, saying: “I wasn’t aware of specific removal targets. I accept I should have been and I’m sorry that I wasn’t.”

She will be making a statement in Parliament on Monday and will face a grilling from MPs over the Home Office’s illegal migration quota.

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On Thursday Rudd told Parliament that she was unaware of the policy, but a memo from June 2017 leaked by the Guardian yesterday copied to the home secretary referred to illegal migration targets.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott joined the call for Rudd to resign following the leak.

“She failed to read crucial documents which meant she wasn’t aware of the removal targets which have led to people’s lives being ruined,” she said.

“Another apology is not enough, she should take responsibility for chaos in the Home Office and resign.”

Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy, who has been vocal in calling for Rudd’s resignation, also took to Twitter to voice his opinions on the home secretary.

Responding to Rudd’s promise to ensure future immigration was “fair and humane”, he said:

I would have preferred work to ensure that our immigration policy is fair and humane a while ago. Ideally before my constituents were detained by the Home Office, kicked out of their jobs and threatened with deportation.

Regarding the leaked memo, he directed a number of questions to Rudd:

Was it in your ministerial Red Box? Did you sign it off without reading it? If not does your office sign off documents regarding deportation without you reading them? Is deportation insufficiently important? What other documents does your office sign off without you reading them?