Articles and Speeches

Home Office Shambles
26-May-06, Windsor Express Article.

I very much doubt you will have missed the headlined failures at the Home Office over the last few weeks.

Foreign prisoners have been allowed to remain in this country and to re-offend. Prisoners have escaped and avoided recapture and there have been allegations of demands for sex in exchange for visas.

When it has also been revealed that thousands of inaccurate records are kept by the Criminal Records Bureau, it is little wonder that people – and the Home Secretary in particular - have lost confidence that the Home Office is fit for purpose.

The troubles were brought home to me this week when I was contacted by a distressed resident. She had been branded a criminal by the Criminal Records Bureau and had been refused jobs by several employers.

The irony is that, having never been in trouble with the police, she had no idea that this was the cause of her rejection for several highly desirable jobs.

It is unacceptable that after 9 years, there are still systemic failures at the Home Office. It is completely unacceptable that innocent law-abiding people are suffering as a result.

Unsurprisingly the fourth new Home Secretary has also promised to sort out the mess – I shall certainly hold him to account in Parliament for the sake of hard-working Brits who deserve better than the current shambles.