Home Office is dysfunctional, says ex-watchdog

David Neal said immigration failures went to the top of the department. He suggested a lack of radios for border gate officers at Heathrow was madness. Mr Neal is the most senior independent voice with detailed knowledge of the Home Office to publicly criticise its handling of migration in recent times. Home Office said Mr Neal had his appointment terminated after he had leaked sensitive information.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that the release of sensitive information was a “sacking offence. He added: ‘Our entire national security is based on our ability to keep some things. out of the public eye’ Mr Neal said he regularly found that failings within the immigration system came down to cock-up rather than conspiracy. He said too few officials at the Home Office were prepared to take responsibility.

When he raised his findings with senior officials, he said he had sometimes received a “rolls eyes’ expression. He said he had seen “again and again, in so many areas, senior officials who just don’t get it. It comes down to this challenge in the Home Office of policy people versus operational people, he said. And this doesn’t cost a lot, he added.

Long-unpublished report into e-Passport gates revealed officers did not have radios to raise the alarm with colleagues. Home Office said it had accepted Mr Neal’s recommendation for more radios - but it has not been clear whether all officers will get them. Mr Neal said four different officials had been in charge of the Home Office’s crisis-beset emergency asylum accommodation plans. He said the then Home Secretary Priti Patel never found time to meet him - and her successor, Suella Braverman, only did so twice.

Mr Neal said that he had hoped to develop a better working relationship with James Cleverly, the current home secretary. He said evidence disclosed to an ongoing asylum court case showed the minister had approved his re-appointment from April. Those events had occurred before the row that led to his sacking, he said. Small boat arrivals down by a third since Mr Neal was sacked, Home Office says.

Home Office, Border Force and NCA working with international partners to stop boats. There will be no publishing of the Rwanda material, the Home Office said. It added the work was already having a return with small boat arrivals.

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