‘Nasty’ Theresa May is suppressing the facts about immigration
‘Nasty’: Theresa May suppressed important independent reports on immigration. She has also announced plans to repeal the Human Rights Act. You can hardly call her nice!
The woman who defined herself and her fellow Tories as “the Nasty Party” showed she was happy to live down to that name after it was revealed that Theresa May has been sitting on five potentially-damning reports on Britain’s asylum system – on the day we learned net migration into the UK has risen above the level it was when the Coalition government came into office.
Mrs May’s suppression of the reports by John Vine, the government’s independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, suggests that she is trying to control the release of stories that criticise the government’s record on immigration in the run-up to the general election next year.
Mr Vine has made it clear that her failure to release the reports in a “timely” manner is reducing their impact and compromising his role as an independent watchdog.
His claim has also supported assertions by former Home Office minister Norman Baker that Mrs May suppressed reports on drug laws that run contrary to the government’s position.
It should be no surprise that the Coalition government is perfectly willing to suppress critical reports of its policies; this is an administration that lied its way into office and has been lying ever since.
The current fiasco is particularly damaging as David Cameron once claimed that his government would reduce net migration to less than 100,000 per year – “no ifs, no buts” – and the latest figures put it at around 260,000. That’s more than two-and-a-half times Cameron’s target, and higher than when the Conservative-led Coalition came into office.
According to The Independent: “Mr Vine says that up until this year he had complete autonomy to decide when his reports, which cover all aspect of Britain’s asylum and immigration system, were published. This was the case under successive Home Secretaries since the post was established in 2008.
“But Mr Vine said that in December last year he received a letter from Ms May saying that from then on, he would have to publish his reports through her department.”
The report continues: “‘I was concerned by these proposals for a number of reasons,’ he wrote. ‘I feared, at the time it was made, that a consequence of her decision might be that reports would not be published promptly, reducing the impact of their findings.'”
“Allowing the Government to control the release date also allows ministers to release them at times when they will get little publicity – potentially burying unwelcome news.”
So Mr Vine is right to accuse the government – and Mrs May in particular – of dirty tricks.
We all know of at least one other government department that has used delaying tactics: The Department for Work and Pensions has not published any statistics on the deaths of Employment and Support Allowance claimants since mid-2012, when it was revealed that 10,600 UK citizens died while claiming the benefit between January and December 2011 – around 220 per week.
The DWP has been claiming – for more than a year now – that it will release the figures on an unspecified date in the future.
“The Nasty Party” is a good description for an organisation that behaves in such a way, and Theresa May was right to label herself as such.
Other adequate descriptions include “underhanded”, “deceitful”… feel free to add your own.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
our incisive analysis of the latest news!
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Disagree on the theory of “she is doing it to limit damage”.
She is controlling and releasing them as a drip feed… (now my theory) To control the narrative of Immigration being your biggest issue. The issue has dominated the news. It is dominating the news. The content is actually irrelevant. The Immigration issue needs to be on the news 24/7.
What’s your biggest issue?
Well the biggest issue is immigration, I suppose. My low wages, my zero hour contract, my falling living standard, my inability to afford goods and my services being cut… MUST BE because immigration.
While immigration is the narrative, the tories are deflecting blame with the help of their tory-UKIP-tory friends. “The Nasty Party” doesn’t exist in the narrative. It’s the “Nasty immigrants” fault.
“underhanded”, “deceitful” doesn’t describe it. There are no words for the sinister manipulation of some people, to get them to blame other powerless people for the powerful’s actions.
Always worth reminding people that it was actually a nasty Tory who recognised that the Tory Party is indeed the Nasty Party.
Government : Latin “gubernare” – ‘to direct, rule, guide, govern’ followed by Latin “mens/ment” – ‘mind’.
So, “To control the mind”?
And this is a government which has repeatedly shown itself to be avid, if not particularly good, exponents of this dark art.
Enter Sir Humphrey
No ifs or buts – “yes prime minister”.
I think the original meaning might have been “minds that govern”. Interesting interpretation, though.
Immigration is only a big problem because the trade unions have had their powers taken away, the workplace tribunals have been made too expensive for many and legal aid has been taken away.
She is a bloody witch, where does she hide the broom when being photographed? Use your imagination.
The “transparent party” at least I can still laugh at the hypocrisy. They are as transparent as a wall retaining nuclear waste. Lead lined.
Oui!! Less of the insult please. Some of us wouldn’t let her near our cauldrons.
If only the magnificent profits generated from lowered wages and eroded rights, in relation to immigration were properly taxed and ploughed into building enough schools, health, affordable houses, welfare etc etc etc. instead of the resultant misery and shortages for the people who were raised here with the now antiquated sense of national identity; we could have a wonderful, fair country where even the native, working class, non college/university educated Britons could feel included.