UK Prime Minister Theresa May found herself under increasing pressure on Monday as Home Secretary Amber Rudd quit for misleading parliament over targets to remove illegal immigrants.
Rudd was replaced by the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. His former post has been filled by the former Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire.

The opposition Labour party demanded May come to the House of Commons to explain her role in creating a "hostile" immigration policy when she ran the Home Office.

Rudd was forced to resign after she denied the existence of deportation targets when questioned by the Home Affairs select committee.



Subsequent leaks showed that was not the case, and Rudd was forced to make a statement to parliament admitting the targets existed, but claimed she was unaware of them, giving the impression she did not have full control of her brief.

Her position became untenable over the weekend when the Guardian obtained a letter from Rudd to May that stated she planned to increase deportations by 10%.

In her resignation letter to May, Rudd said she "inadvertently misled" the committee.

"Since appearing before the select committee, I have reviewed the advice I was given on this issue and become aware of information provided to my office which makes mention of targets," she wrote.

"I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not."

THE WINDRUSH GENERATION

The scrutiny of Rudd began over her department's treatment of the so-called "Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants who moved to the UK after World War 2 who have been systematically victimised and threatened with dentention and deportation.

Many have lost their jobs along with their rights to benefits and health care despite being protected by a 1973 law that gave them citizenship. Under May's rule as Home Secretary, regulations were tightened up and thousands of people found themselves without the required documentation as she openly created a "hostile environment" for migrants.

Rudd enthusiastically pursued the policy when she took over, but its brutal impact on people who had grown up in the UK was exposed over the course of the past year by the Guardian newspaper.

After growing public outrage over the scandal, Rudd was forced to reverse course, set up a special unit within her department to deal with the crisis amd agree that those affected would be granted citizenship and be paid compensation.

Rudd's departure intensifies the heat on May to explain what she knew about the immigration targets. It also means she loses a key anti-Brexit member of the Cabinet who may join other pro-EU rebels on the backbenches, making the Prime Minister's life even more awkward.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said May should "give an immediate, full and honest account of how this inexcusable situation happened on her watch".

"Outstanding questions remain, and a change of Home Secretary must mean a change in the 'hostile environment' policies begun by her predecessor, or it will be meaningless."

"The Prime Minister must come before the House of Commons to explain whether she knew that Amber Rudd was misleading Parliament and the public last week about deportation targets."

On Monday, May denied that Rudd had fallen on her sword over the Windrush scandal.

"Amber Rudd was very clear about the reasons why she has resigned - that was because of information she gave to the House of Commons which was not correct," she said.

"If you look at what we're doing as a government, and have been doing over the years as a government, what we are doing is responding to the need that people see for a government to deal with illegal immigration.

"That's exactly what we are doing. Now, we have seen the Windrush generation being caught up in way that has caused anxiety among that generation. That's why we have set up a unit that has is helping those people top get the documents that they need."

However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said May should face questions in parliament over the crisis.

"Amber Rudd has been the human shield for Theresa May, and she's now gone," he said. "Theresa May now has questions to answer - from the liaison committee or wherever else those questions are raised - about what she actually did as home secretary and what she said."

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