AMN
WEB DESK
Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd has resigned amid a scandal over the authorities’ mistreatment of long-term UK residents wrongly labelled as illegal immigrants. Rudd, who was due to make a House of Commons statement, had been under increasing pressure to quit over the scandal involving Caribbean immigrants who were brought to the UK from the so-called “Windrush generation” from the 1940s.
Rudd, who faced calls to step down from the opposition Labour Party, telephoned Prime Minister Theresa May to inform her about her decision to resign. The Prime Minister’s office said the resignation has been accepted.
On Sunday, the Guardian published the full letter it had reported on a week earlier, in which Ms Rudd set out her “ambitious but deliverable” aim to deport 10% more illegal immigrants over the “next few years” to Theresa May.
In her resignation letter, Ms Rudd said she takes “full responsibility” for the fact she was not aware of “information provided to (her) office which makes mention of targets”.
In response, Mrs May said she believed Ms Rudd had given her evidence to the Commons “in good faith” but that she understood her decision to resign and take “responsibility for inadvertently misleading the home affairs select committee”.
She should “take great pride” in what she achieved at the Home Office, Mrs May added.
Ms Rudd is the fourth person forced to resign from the cabinet in the last six months – following Sir Michael Fallon, Priti Patel and Damian Green. James Brokenshire also left in January because of health reasons.