The Home Office has struggled to effectively manage “crises” over the past several years and is “not yet fit for purpose,” the Home Secretary has stated in an interview with the BBC.
Shabana Mahmood, who assumed leadership of the department last month, acknowledged “a range of problems,” including challenges in contract procurement and retaining senior staff. However, she affirmed her “determination to deliver” improvements.
Mahmood’s comments were made while overseeing a police operation in South London targeting migrants engaged in illegal employment within the UK.
She asserted that the crackdown was “starting to work,” noting that 8,232 individuals had been apprehended for illegal working in the past year, representing a 63% increase.
The department faces a multitude of challenges, notably including the housing of asylum seekers in hotels.
Mahmood stated that the Home Office “obviously deals with emergency and crises issues on a regular basis, and I think over a long period of time has been found not to be able to rise to the scale of the challenge of those crises and those emergencies.”
Addressing the issue of illegal working, the Home Secretary remarked, “It is clear that the enforcement of our rules has been lacking – and wasn’t good enough or strong enough under the last government… The law hasn’t kept pace with the changes to the ways in which people get work.”
She added, “The numbers are still not where I want them to be. I want to go further and faster, but I think we’ve made progress, and the numbers at the moment are going in the right direction.”
During two hours spent with officers conducting spot checks on gig economy workers, including delivery drivers, the BBC observed that no arrests were made for illegal working, although one man was detained for unrelated offenses.
Government ministers believe that increased enforcement against illegal employment will serve to reduce incentives for individuals to enter the UK illegally and seek asylum.
A recent report from MPs highlighted that billions have been spent on hotels accommodating asylum seekers, necessitating urgent action to reduce costs.
Mahmood confirmed her intention to relocate some migrants to accommodation at army barracks in Inverness and East Sussex by the end of the year.
She stated, “I know that asylum hotels are an absolute blight on our communities. I know that they’ve been the site of huge community tensions.”
“We are working at pace to deliver new sites, I hope to be within two new military sites by the end of the year. Discussions are underway and well advanced in terms of planning for those moves.”
Mahmood did not indicate that the move would result in cost savings for taxpayers.
When asked about potentially exercising a break clause in the government’s contracts with hotel providers next spring, she stated that “all options are on the table.”
She elaborated, “I will need to look very carefully at the legal arrangements in those contracts and the options that are available to us and act in the best interests of our country, of our taxpayers as well.”
Skepticism remains regarding the government’s ability to secure alternative accommodation to facilitate breaking the contracts.
Mahmood’s department has also faced significant scrutiny in recent weeks over issues including the grooming gangs inquiry, the “one in one out” deal with France, small boat crossings, and more.
The Home Secretary acknowledged, “It’s obviously a department that has a range of problems… It obviously deals with emergency and crises issues on a regular basis, and I think over a long period of time has been found not to be able to rise to the scale of the challenge of those crises and those emergencies.”
However, she pledged to collaborate with Antonia Romeo, the department’s new top civil servant, to address these issues.
Speaking on Monday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch acknowledged that “mistakes had been made” in the Home Office under the previous Tory government. However, she contended that Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme – intended to deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats – had worsened illegal migration.
“Scrapping that scheme removed the deterrence, and meant that small boat crossings increased by 40%.”
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