The fallout of the Windrush scandal has continued from the previous week, with Home Secretary Amber Rudd still in the firing line and facing calls to resign. Rudd has been criticised after telling the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday that the Home Office did not set targets for removals of illegal migrants to the UK. However, a memorandum leaked to the Guardian states that the Home Office had actually exceeded a quota of ‘12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18’, which Rudd later apologised for not having been aware of. Conservative party chairman Brandon Lewis, who was the minister responsible for immigration at the time, took to the Andrew Marr Show to defend his former boss:
Was Amber Rudd aware of deportation targets? Former immigration minister Brandon Lewis says she wasn't aware of "internal targets" in regional offices #marr pic.twitter.com/mH2kL1ktNf
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 29, 2018
AM: You had these figures, you knew about the memo… Did you discuss any of this with Amber Rudd as Immigration Minister?
BL: I was working with her on a weekly basis to make sure that we were doing everything we could – working with the police, working with local government to help vulnerable people, to crack down on criminals, and to remove more people who are here illegally.
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