Javid’s Home Office record should disqualify him for PM

Responding to Sajid Javid’s announcement that he is running to become leader of the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey has argued that “Javid’s record as Home Secretary should disqualify him from entering Number 10”.

In just over a year at the Home Office, Javid has:

• Ignored calls to boost police funding to tackle the rise in serious violence, following £1 billion of police cuts since 2015.
• Refused to scrap the hostile environment ‘Right to Rent’ law, even though the High Court ruled that it is discriminatory and incompatible with the Human Rights Act.
• Undermined the UK’s opposition to the death penalty by offering assistance with prosecutions in the United States without seeking the usual assurances that the death penalty would not be used.
• Introduced a government bill to end EU free movement, despite not having a clear plan for an immigration system to replace it. His White Paper merely describes itself as a “platform for discussion”.
• Pressed ahead with plans to require EU citizens in the UK to apply for Settled Status by an arbitrary 2021 deadline, despite warnings that this will lead to a repeat of the Windrush Scandal.
• Legislated for controversial, counterproductive and costly ‘Knife Crime Prevention Orders’ with no evidence to support them and minimal debate in the House of Commons.
• Unlawfully pre-judged the asylum claims of people coming across the Channel by suggesting that they are not “genuine” asylum seekers and saying that the Government needs “to send a very strong message” that their claims “won’t succeed”.
• Introduced unnecessary, authoritarian new laws, including new offences of “entering or remaining in” designated areas outside the UK and viewing terrorism-related material online.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey commented:

“Sajid Javid’s been running for Tory leader ever since he set foot in the Home Office. Scaremongering about refugees, eroding civil liberties and undermining human rights – it’s all straight out of Theresa May’s playbook.

“Javid’s record as Home Secretary should disqualify him from entering Number 10. We’ve just seen what happens when a terrible Home Secretary becomes a disastrous Prime Minister. We don’t need a repeat.”