Priti Patel is threatening to launch a formal complaint after Home Office sources made a “categorically untrue” claim that she oversaw a two-month summer “pause” in finding hotel rooms for asylum seekers.
The former home secretary said she was considering writing to the department’s top official after “unfounded” briefings seeking to blame her for decisions made under her successor, Suella Braverman.
The department has been consumed by the unfolding crisis at the Manston processing centre in Kent, which held 4,100 people at its peak, despite having a capacity of 1,600. The troubled site, where people arriving in the UK in small boats are taken for initial checks, has been completely cleared, Home Office sources confirmed on Tuesday.
The row between the former home secretary and her old department comes after two Home Office sources told the Guardian there was a “pause” between mid-June and mid August in the commissioning of hotels for asylum seekers.
The alleged pause – which meant that new accommodation was not signed off to house expected new arrivals in small boats – has been discussed in recent weeks at a “senior level” within the department, the sources said.
The Home Office’s failure to find hotels for asylum seekers has been blamed for leading to illegal conditions at Manston. Sources claim the government is facing at least three judicial reviews from detainees.
Speaking for the first time about her alleged role in the asylum backlog, Patel said any indication that...
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