Morale and trust among Home Office staff at ‘rock bottom’ after failed Rwanda flight

Exclusive: Civil servants frustrated at being accused of ‘going along with’ policy despite it being ‘purely ministerial led’, according to member of staff

Morale and trust among Home Office staff is at “rock bottom” after the department’s failed attempt to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday, according to an inside source.

Civil servants feel “frustrated” that they are being accused of “happily going along with” the policy despite it being “purely ministerial led”, a member of staff in the department has said.

They told The Independent that civil servants were given “no involvement or opportunity to contribute” in the planning of the policy, and that there had been “minimal communication between senior management and operational teams”, adding: “It’s unreal.”

It comes after the first scheduled flight to Rwanda fell into disarray Tuesday night when the handful of people still due to be on the plane won last-minute legal reprieve.

Home Secretary Priti Patel described the ECHR’s intervention as ‘very surprising’ (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

Appeals were granted by an out-of-hours judge in the European Court of Human Rights while the asylum seekers were on their way from a detention centre near Heathrow to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire from where a chartered aircraft was already waiting to take them to Rwanda.

A member of staff in the Home Office told The Independent on Wednesday morning: “Morale and trust rock bottom, minimal communication between senior management and operational teams, it’s unreal.”

“[There’s] frustration that this is being placed at the civil servants door when it is purely ministerial led.

“The right believe that we are wilfully blocking ministerial demands and the left believe we are happily going along with it - the reality is that most of Home Office has had no involvement or opportunity to contribute.”

They added that there had been “no mention” of the flight on the intranet or in emails to staff.

“And those poor people waiting all day, being loaded onto a plane and then brought back off - shameful,” they said.

The police has been met with protests and criticism (Reuters)

It comes after it emerged that deportation notices for Paddington Bear had been put up on internal Home Office noticeboards by staff as part of a campaign by in protest of refugees being deported to Rwanda.

The notices say the fictional bear is wanted for a pending relocation flight to Rwanda and add that he arrived illegally in the UK via boat and without a visa.

Following the failed flight on Tuesday, home secretary Priti Patel insisted the plan would continue.

“Many of those removed from this flight will be placed on the next. Our legal team are reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparation for the next flight begins now,” she said.