Latest UK politics as ex-Tory ministers claim Home Office should be split into two to curb migration

The Home Office should be split up because it is “incapable” of controlling immigration and securing Britain’s borders, former Tory ministers Robert Jenrick and Neil O’Brien have said in a report.

Among 36 recommendations in a Centre for Policy Studies report published Wednesday, the former immigration minister and former housing minister argued that a Home Office overhaul – with a new Department of Border Security and Immigration Control to focus on migration policy while other Home Office responsibilities are delegated to a new Department for Policing and National Security – would “instil a totally different culture in the Home Office”.

New Home Office figures revealed that more than 2,000 migrants had arrived in the UK in small boats since Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Act became law almost two weeks ago.

Mr Jenrick and Mr O’Brien argued that the Home Office, “undermined by high levels of churn and a lack of institutional knowledge”, had “fallen short” on immigration, which they said was consistently one of voters’ top concerns.

The Home Office has said it had no plans to break up the department.

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