Priti Patel slammed for avoiding accountability after refusing to appear before Home Affairs Committee

“Not exactly in the spirit of the ministerial code”

Priti Patel has refused to appear before a planned session of the Home Affairs Committee where she was due to be questioned on issues such as the Rwanda migrant deal as well as on violence against women and girls and passport delays.

The Home Affairs Committee wrote on its Twitter page: “This morning at 10.00am we were due to be questioning the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. She has declined to attend our session.”

Reacting to the news, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted: “What on earth is going on? Why has Priti Patel refused at last minute to go to @CommonsHomeAffs

so MPs can ask her about;

– passport delays

– asylum delays

– rising crime

– falling prosecutions

– record low rape charges

– record high fraud

& more…

“This Govt is in total chaos.”

Stuart McDonald, a Scottish National Party MP who sits on the committee, said on Twitter that the home secretary emailed the committee shortly before 5pm on Tuesday to cancel her appearance.

He wrote: “The Home Secretary emailed the committee yesterday shortly before 5pm to cancel her appearance this morning – because of “recent changes in government” including to her ministerial team!”

Uploading a picture of the letter Patel had sent to the committee chair, McDonald slammed the excuse as rubbish before adding: “Committee members are rather annoyed. More importantly so will lots of people on whose behalf we want to ask questions: people waiting for passports; people waiting for Windrush compensation; people waiting for asylum claims; people in detention pending removal to Rwanda…..

“Not exactly in the spirit of the ministerial code:

“Ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to account, for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies”.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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