Home Office officials threaten strike action over Priti Patel’s ‘immoral’ Rwanda deal

Mutiny on Rwanda deal: Home Office staff plot to sabotage migrants plan as some threaten to go on STRIKE over ‘totally unethical’ proposal to ship asylum-seekers overseas

  • Angry Home Office staff are considering strike action over the Rwanda deal
  • Internal message boards in the department show the level of disgruntlement
  • One Home Office official compared the policy to Nazis ‘only following orders’ 

Priti Patel is facing a Home Office mutiny over the Rwanda asylum deal with some staff threatening to strike.

The Daily Mail can reveal certain employees branded the policy ‘totally unethical’ and asked if they can refuse to work on the scheme.

Comments on an internal online noticeboard, seen by the Mail, reveal scores of officials have voiced their opposition to Home Secretary Miss Patel’s scheme. It could see tens of thousands of migrants sent to Rwanda for asylum processing in the coming years.

People found to have a legitimate claim can stay in Rwanda – but cannot return to the UK. Those whose applications fail may be deported to their home country. The scheme will focus mainly on single men arriving in the UK illegally in small boats or lorries.

The Daily Mail has received copies of messages sent by officials on an internal Home Office messaging board where they are criticising the controversial government refugee policy

Officials in the Home Office have expressed outrage over Home Secretary Priti Patel's plan to off-shore asylum applications from people who have crossed the English Channel. Ms Patel, pictured, wants to process the applications in Rwanda and anyone who is successful will be welcomed to remain in the African country

Officials in the Home Office have expressed outrage over Home Secretary Priti Patel’s plan to off-shore asylum applications from people who have crossed the English Channel. Ms Patel, pictured, wants to process the applications in Rwanda and anyone who is successful will be welcomed to remain in the African country

The questions of worried staff will be put to Home Office permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft during an online call for staff today.

One worker said on the noticeboard: ‘I find the Government proposal totally unethical and it impacts directly upon my workstream. As a civil servant, can I refuse this type of work in contravention of my own ethics?’

Another drew a comparison to serving in war-time Germany. In a reference to the Nazi trials at Nuremberg, they wrote: ‘The words ‘I was only obeying orders’ are echoing down through history to me and making me queasy.’

However, a colleague accused them of making ‘absurd comparisons’. The level of negativity in the Home Office is further evidence of attempts to undermine Miss Patel’s efforts to tackle the Channel migrant crisis. Earlier this year, a union representing most Border Force workers joined a migrant charity to challenge the legality of measures to turn boats back to France.

In the online comments, a Home Office worker asked whether staff would have a duty to ‘resist’ the Rwanda policy and campaign against it.

They wrote: ‘Do we have a responsibility to not just leave, but to organise and resist? We cannot simply wash our hands and walk away.’

Another said: ‘Somewhere down the road, when the inevitable ‘What went wrong with Rwandan outsourcing?’ inquiry takes place, the Home Office cannot say that nobody spoke up at the time.

‘We’re speaking up – this is a bad idea. Don’t do it! I think a lot of staff feel this way.’

A colleague replied: ‘Go on strike.’ One civil servant said: ‘I’ve worked for the Home Office for 20 years. There’s been some ups and downs in that time.

A Home Office official said: ¿This is one of the darkest moments for the Home Office and it is making me reconsider my position here¿

A Home Office official said: ‘This is one of the darkest moments for the Home Office and it is making me reconsider my position here’

‘But this announcement has made me feel deep shame and is the first time I am considering my position here and whether I need to get out of this department.’

A worker said: ‘This is one of the darkest moments for the Home Office and it is making me reconsider my position here.’

However, a minority of posters supported the Rwanda deal One wrote: ‘It is important we remember that the current situation in the Channel is unsustainable and hugely impacting our colleagues’ well-being – there are more arrivals than they can cope with.’

Another civil servant said: ‘I believe the removal policy to Rwanda is possibly the best option to the current misuse of the asylum system and will act as a deterrent over time.’

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said of the comments: ‘This just shows what Priti Patel is up against on a constant basis.

‘Elected governments set the policy and it’s for the civil service to implement that policy.

‘That’s how democracy works but not, it seems, in the minds of Home Office civil servants.

‘This only goes to show what we already suspected – that there is a huge amount of push-back from the officials.’ 

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Home Office is committed to constructive and open conversations with staff on our policies.’