HOME SECRETARY Shabana Mahmood has said the Home Office has failed to meet the challenge of multiple crises over the years and is "not yet fit for purpose".
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Mahmood said the department she took charge of last month had "a range of problems", including contract management and retaining senior staff, but she was "determined to deliver".
Mahmood made the remarks while overseeing a police operation in south London targeting migrants working illegally. She said the crackdown was "starting to work", with 8,232 people arrested for illegal working over the past year — a 63 per cent rise.
She said: "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."
Mahmood said asylum hotels had caused community tensions and confirmed plans to move some migrants to military sites in Inverness and East Sussex by the end of the year.
She added that “all options are on the table” regarding hotel contracts, saying she would act in the “best interests of our taxpayers”.
The Home Office has also faced criticism over other issues, including small boat crossings, the grooming gangs inquiry, and the mistaken release of convicted offender Hadush Kebatu, who has since been deported to Ethiopia.
Conservative MP Neil Hudson said the local community was “very relieved” by Kebatu’s deportation but called the earlier mistake “incredibly frustrating”.
