Amber Rudd resigns as Home Secretary

Amber Rudd has resigned as Home Secretary hours after it emerged she had told Theresa May she had "ambitious but deliverable" targets for removing illegal immigrants.

The comment, in a letter to the Prime Minister leaked to The Guardian, appeared to contradict Rudd's earlier claims that she was unaware of the Home Office having any deportation targets.

Rudd, who was already under huge pressure over her handling of the Windrush scandal, had repeatedly said that she would not resign.

In a tweet on Friday night, she said: "I wasn’t aware of removal targets. I accept I should have been and I am sorry that I wasn’t."

But the almost daily supply of information undermining her position meant that her place in the Cabinet became untenable.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has tonight accepted the resignation of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary."

Rudd's departure from the Government is a blow to May, who was her immediate predecessor in the Home Office.

Having been a strong supporter of Remain in the EU referendum, she could now become a powerful voice on the Tory backbenches for a soft Brexit.

The Hastings and Rye MP's position first came under threat over the Windrush scandal, which saw immigrants from the Caribbean threatened with deportation, denied NHS treatment and left homeless despite having lived in the UK for decades.

Rudd then told MPs that there were no targets for the removal illegal immigrants, despite evidence showing there was.

Despite the mounting controversy, she told a Westminster lunch last Thursday that she was going nowhere.

"There is a lot to do in the Home Office," she said. "There are fantastic people working in the Home Office. There are some real challenges there, but I can do this.

"It's been a difficult few weeks but I am committed to the Home Office and the job I have."

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Ed Davey said: "It’s clear that Amber Rudd has ended up, at least partly, being the fall guy to protect the Prime Minister. Theresa May must face questions now given these dreadful failures largely took place under her watch as Home Secretary."

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said: “After this scandal and its botched cover up, Amber Rudd's resignation was inevitable. It should have come sooner.

“The architect of this crisis, Theresa May, must now step forward to give an immediate, full and honest account of how this inexcusable situation happened on her watch.”