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| Theresa May called to Commons committee over border force budget | Theresa May called to Commons committee over border force budget |
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| The home secretary, Theresa May, has been summoned at short notice by Keith Vaz to face the Commons home affairs select committee on Tuesday in an increasingly acrimonious row over the budget of the UK border force. | |
| A personal test of strength has developed between the home secretary and Vaz’s committee after a senior Home Office mandarin was kicked out of an evidence hearing last week having been asked nine times by Vaz whether the border force budget had been finalised. | |
| Related: Border staff are needed more than ever, but are being battered by cuts | Related: Border staff are needed more than ever, but are being battered by cuts |
| When Oliver Robbins, the department’s second permanent secretary, declined to answer the question for the ninth time, Vaz told him: “I am going to excuse you from this committee because I think your evidence has been unsatisfactory.” | When Oliver Robbins, the department’s second permanent secretary, declined to answer the question for the ninth time, Vaz told him: “I am going to excuse you from this committee because I think your evidence has been unsatisfactory.” |
| An increasingly acrimonious exchange of correspondence between May and Vaz has taken place since the hearing last Tuesday, with the home secretary explicitly telling the committee chairman that she was “extremely displeased” with the approach he had taken. “He was questioned for less than 20 minutes before you dismissed him,” she said. | An increasingly acrimonious exchange of correspondence between May and Vaz has taken place since the hearing last Tuesday, with the home secretary explicitly telling the committee chairman that she was “extremely displeased” with the approach he had taken. “He was questioned for less than 20 minutes before you dismissed him,” she said. |
| She rejected Vaz’s request that Robbins should reappear before the committee and hinted at withdrawing her permission for other Home Office civil servants to give evidence in future, saying it was for ministers to account for government decisions. | She rejected Vaz’s request that Robbins should reappear before the committee and hinted at withdrawing her permission for other Home Office civil servants to give evidence in future, saying it was for ministers to account for government decisions. |
| The row over whether a senior civil servant should be required to disclose whether the border force budget has yet been agreed is particularly sensitive, as the shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, has repeatedly claimed that May is hiding “dangerous cuts” in the frontier force. He says whistleblowers have told him that 6% cuts are planned for this financial year and a further 6% for next. | The row over whether a senior civil servant should be required to disclose whether the border force budget has yet been agreed is particularly sensitive, as the shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, has repeatedly claimed that May is hiding “dangerous cuts” in the frontier force. He says whistleblowers have told him that 6% cuts are planned for this financial year and a further 6% for next. |
| But the home secretary defended her refusal to publish the individual budgets of parts of her department saying their funding allocations were made separately within the overall Home Office total and “are subject to change throughout the financial year”. She has also defended her record on border security. | |
| Related: Border force warns terrorists could enter EU by abusing asylum checks | Related: Border force warns terrorists could enter EU by abusing asylum checks |
| In an increasingly ill-tempered exchange of correspondence released on Monday, Vaz denied he had “dismissed” Robbins and demanded that May answer the “single question” of whether the head of the UK Border Force, Sir Charles Montgomery, had been told his budget allocation for the 2016/17 business year, which started in April. | |
| “Once again, if my single question to Oliver Robbins, and to you, can be answered prior to this time, then it will not be necessary for you to attend and give evidence. Should I not receive a response, then I will look forward to seeing you at 2.15pm tomorrow.” Vaz told her on Monday afternoon, copying the letter to David Cameron and George Osborne. | “Once again, if my single question to Oliver Robbins, and to you, can be answered prior to this time, then it will not be necessary for you to attend and give evidence. Should I not receive a response, then I will look forward to seeing you at 2.15pm tomorrow.” Vaz told her on Monday afternoon, copying the letter to David Cameron and George Osborne. |
| As the home affairs committee row escalated, a second Commons committee, the public accounts committee, was adjourned “with regret” by its chair, the former Home Office minister Meg Hillier, when the most senior Home Office official, Mark Sedwill, failed to provide detailed answers to their questions on criminal confiscation orders. He was ordered to return to the committee within 10 days with the information requested. | As the home affairs committee row escalated, a second Commons committee, the public accounts committee, was adjourned “with regret” by its chair, the former Home Office minister Meg Hillier, when the most senior Home Office official, Mark Sedwill, failed to provide detailed answers to their questions on criminal confiscation orders. He was ordered to return to the committee within 10 days with the information requested. |