Priti Patel is standing down as residence secretary following the election of Liz Truss as Tory chief.
Patel, a key supporter of Boris Johnson, tweeted her resignation letter on Monday night, saying it had been the “honour of my life to function residence secretary for the final three years”.
Patel didn’t endorse any candidate within the management contest and was broadly anticipated to be moved from her transient on the appointment of a brand new chief.
Stories counsel that Truss is making ready to nominate fellow management contender Suella Braverman to Patel’s position.
In her resignation letter, Patel paid tribute to Johnson for profitable the 2019 common election and for breaking the parliamentary impasse over Brexit.
“Underneath your management, now we have made our nation safer, strengthened legislation and order, delivered our manifesto commitments, and laid robust foundations for our successors at Quantity 10 and within the House Workplace to construct on,” she wrote.
“I congratulate Liz Truss on being elected our new chief, and can give her my assist as our new prime minister.
“It’s my option to proceed my public service to the nation and the Witham constituency from the backbenches, as soon as Liz formally assumes workplace and a brand new residence secretary is appointed.
“From the backbenches, I’ll champion lots of the insurance policies and causes I’ve stood up for each inside and out of doors of presidency.”
Patel’s resignation comes as she at this time defended her controversial coverage of sending migrants to Rwanda.
The Excessive Court docket heard a case during which a number of asylum seekers, the Public and Business Companies union (PCS) and teams Care4Calais and Detention Motion questioned the legality of the plan.
Patel signed what she described as a “world-first settlement” with Rwanda in April however the first deportation flight, attributable to take off on June 14, was grounded amid a sequence of authorized challenges.
In the course of the listening to these disputing the coverage mentioned Rwanda was an “authoritarian state” that “tortures and murders these it considers to be its opponents”.
Patel rejected their argument within the Commons, insisting the coverage was “authentic” and replying “completely not” when requested to desert it.
Regardless of the coverage being launched to discourage migrants from making harmful crossings throughout the channel, figures launched by the Ministry of Defence at this time revealed 1,160 folks had been detected on Sunday in 25 boats.
Because the deal was introduced, 22,116 folks have crossed the Channel to the UK in small boats.
Patel took a parting shot on the “political opponents” and “left-wing activists” she accused of in search of to dam her efforts as residence secretary.
“Whereas they get up for the criminals, terrorists, folks smugglers, these with no proper to be within the UK, and individuals who threaten public security and would do our nation hurt, now we have by no means faltered and by no means stopped doing what is correct to guard the general public,” she mentioned.
