Amber Rudd facing fresh pressure to resign after leaked document reveals she boasted of target to increase deportations

Letter shows home secretary wrote to prime minister to inform her of ‘ambitious but deliverable’ plan to increase deportations by 10 per cent

Amber Rudd is facing fresh calls to resign after a new leaked document revealed she had openly discussed deportation targets, appearing to contradict claims she was unaware of them.

In a letter sent to Theresa May, Ms Rudd boasted of allocating more resources to immigration enforcement teams with the aim of increasing deportations of illegal immigrations by 10 per cent – a target she said was “ambitious but deliverable”.

The revelation raises fresh questions over Ms Rudd’s insistence that she was unaware her department was using targets in relation to deportations.

The home secretary was already facing intense pressure over suggestions she misled parliament on the matter. Quizzed about the Windrush scandal by the Home Affairs Committee of MPs, she had insisted the Home Office did not impose targets for deportations. When it was later revealed that enforcement teams were using internal targets to assess performance, she denied having been aware of the policy.

However, the claim she did not know of any specific targets was further undermined when a leaked memo showed she had been sent details of plans to increase deportations by 10 per cent. After a nine-hour delay in responding, Ms Rudd tweeted late on Friday night to say she had not seen the document.

The latest leak will come as a damning and potentially final blow to the home secretary as she battles to cling on to her job. It suggests that not only was Ms Rudd aware of the 10 per cent target, but that she had openly discussed it with the prime minister.

In the letter, published by The Guardian, she wrote: “I will be reallocating £10m (including from low-level crime and intelligence) with the aim of increasing the number of enforced removals by more than 10 per cent over the next few years: something I believe is ambitious, but deliverable.”

Ms Rudd is due to address MPs on Monday and will likely face a barrage of questions about why she claimed to be unaware of any deportation targets.

In a tweet posted in response to the first leaked memo, Ms Rudd said: “I wasn’t aware of specific removal targets. I accept I should have been and I’m sorry that I wasn’t.

“I didn’t see the leaked document although it was copied to my office as many documents are.”

Defending his Cabinet on Sunday, Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis admitted Ms Rudd was aware of the 10 per cent figure but claimed this was an “overall ambition” rather than a specific target. He said Ms Rudd was correct in denying being aware of targets, because she was referring to the specific, internal targets immigration enforcement officials were using to assess performance. There is no evidence the home secretary was aware of these.

Labour reiterated calls for Ms Rudd to resign in the wake of the latest leak.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said: “The Tories’ shameful attempts to cover up their mess must end. Clearly there were targets, and Amber Rudd was aware of them.

“Theresa May has sent minister after minister out to protect her cruel legacy, misleading parliament and the public in the process. With each new revelation, we get more of an insight into the Tories’ heartless Home Office policies which have led to the Windrush scandal.

“This chaos has gone on for far too long. It’s time for Rudd to go and for the government to rethink its whole approach.”