Search icon

News

29th Apr 2018

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd has resigned

Kate Demolder

Downing Street confirmed the news on Sunday evening.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has resigned, according to officials at Downing Street.

Ms Rudd, who was due to make a Commons statement on Monday, was under pressure to quit over the recent Windrush scandal.

Her handling of the controversy has been heavily criticised by MPs, with over 200 of them coming together to sign a letter accusing her of making up immigration policy in an effort to overcome the scandal.

The now former-Home Secretary had been forced to issue five official apologies in the last week – four of them over her team’s handling of the Windrush crisis and immigration targets.

According to sources, Ms Rudd telephoned Theresa May on Sunday evening to inform the Prime Minister of her decision amid growing opposition demands for her resignation.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has tonight accepted the resignation of the Home Secretary.”

What is the Windrush Scandal?

The Windrush generation refers to immigrants who were invited to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

The scandal refers to the treatment that the members of the Windrush generation have experienced, as a multitude of reports have come out about mostly elderly people being denied services, losing their jobs and even facing deportation.

On Monday, Amber Rudd apologised for the “appalling” treatment received by some of these people.

“I am concerned that the Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy and sometimes loses sight of the individual,” she told the British parliament.

Rudd also announced the creation of a new team tasked with helping long-term UK residents born in the Commonwealth prove they are entitled to stay. She continued to say that she was “not aware of any person being removed” and vowed to find out from High Commissioners of the Commonwealth countries.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge