Braverman’s resignation sparked by Truss’s relaxation on immigration
Suella Braverman steps down as Home Secretary
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Braverman’s bombshell resignation sees her as the shortest-serving Home Secretary since 1834 and saw her apologise over a “technical infringement” of the ministerial code. Ms Braverman sent an official document from her personal email account which breached data rules.
Speaking to Robert Peston on ITV’s political programme Peston, Henry Newman the former special adviser to Boris Johnson said: “I don’t understand why the Home Secretary has had to resign over something which seemed like an incredibly minor infringement.
“I mean clearly, she admitted she made a mistake, for her terms she’s done the decent thing of resigning, but it feels like Number 10 were looking for an excuse to get rid of her.”
The 90-minute row between the trio on Tuesday evening saw Braverman furious at Truss and Hunt’s wishes to relax the former Home Secretary’s position on immigration in order to reduce the pressure on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Friends of Ms Braverman told The Telegraph that she was stunned by their decision to soften over immigration in order to allow the OBR to reach its growth goals which would help Mr Hunt’s new plan to restore stability and confidence in the market.
An ally said: “Suella said, this is insane, why are we trying to appease the OBR? Is everything getting thrown out the window?”
Ms Braverman’s resignation made a dig at Truss, saying: “It is obvious to everyone that we are going through a tumultuous time.
“I have had serious concerns about the Government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings.”
The resignation letter also noted how Braverman had admitted to her mistakes and subsequently resigned, in what has been seen as a thinly veiled attack at the PM.
An ally of Braverman recalled what was said in the argument: “Liz says: ‘If you stay, we’ll have to defend you and it will salami slice our credibility. For your own sake you should go’.
“Suella thought ‘are you serious, you’re not even going to defend anyone over anything?’ She said: ‘Fine, if you won’t stand up for me, I’ll go’.”
Prior to her resignation, Ms Braverman was due to announce the new immigration policy on Thursday following a meeting of the Cabinet’s home affairs committee on Wednesday to sort out the final details.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke on Peston and slammed the Government’s Rwanda plan and its supposed relaxed stance on immigration.
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She said: “You’ve got to have a system that tackles the criminal gangs who are exploiting people, that stops the dangerous boats that are crossing the Channel and putting lives at risk.”
“We know that the Government’s Rwanda plan doesn’t do anything like that. It’s unworkable, it’s unethical they’ve spent another £140 million on a policy that the former home secretary said was failing.”
The Shadow Home Secretary insisted that the Labour Party has “set out serious plans” on how the party would crack down on the issue of criminal gangs in order to improve immigration.
It was announced on Wednesday that former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is now Home Secretary.
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