15 June 2022: Home Affairs Committee Oral evidence: Migration and asylum, HC 197 on 8 June 2022. The witness is David Neal, ICIBI – Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration: #ICIBI
Members present: Dame Diana Johnson (Chair); Ms Diane Abbott; Paula Barker; Tim Loughton; Stuart C McDonald; Matt Vickers
Read the transcript: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/10372/html/
This interview raises many interesting issues about the relationship between ICIBI, Priti Patel and Home Office Ministers; about David Neal’s use of his role; and about the limitations of the system in keeping the system to account.
From John O/Freemovement: Patel Refuses to Speak to Immigration Inspector
Home Secretary Priti Patel has refused to meet the immigration inspector since he took up the job over a year ago. David Neal told the Home Affairs committee of MPs this afternoon he was “disappointed that I’ve not spoken to the Home Secretary and frustrated because I think I have a lot of things to offer from the position that I hold”. Neal, a former head of the military police, was appointed Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration in March 2021. “I’ve asked to speak to her on a number of occasions”, Neal complained. “Prearranged meetings have been cancelled on, I think, five or six occasions now… clearly there’s a reason why I’ve not got that access”.
Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/wcwpgo