Suella Braverman: New home secretary given long list of demands after Priti Patel

Priti Patel’s successor ‘must not repeat mistakes of the past again and again’, groups warn

The new home secretary has been given a lengthy list of demands amid pressure to tackle a significant mountain of issues left by Priti Patel.

Suella Braverman takes her post as the legality of the government’s agreement to forcibly send asylum seekers to Rwanda is examined by the High Court.

Several humanitarian groups called for the new administration to seize the opportunity to scrap the deal, which has not yet been implemented and is not legally enforceable, but new prime minister Liz Truss has indicated her support.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said that with record waiting times for asylum decisions and the government spending millions on hotel rooms because of insufficient accommodation, Ms Patel’s successor should focus on creating a “system that is orderly, humane and fair”.

“What we have seen over the last few years is the opposite,” he told The Independent.

“Instead of repeating the mistakes of the past again and again, we urge our next home secretary to address what are major failings within an asylum system that is in desperate need of reform.”

Ms Braverman also faces significant challenges in other major areas of Home Office responsibility, including crime and policing.

Despite Boris Johnson’s push to recruit 20,000 extra police officers and Ms Patel’s introduction of rafts of new criminal law and police powers, the number of recorded crimes stands at a record high while the proportion prosecuted is at a record low.

Relationships between the government and police have soured in recent years over the handling of the Covid pandemic and a pay freeze that was recently lifted, but with a below-inflation increase.

The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said they had suffered a real-terms pay cut of 25 per cent in the past 12 years and were now being hit by the cost of living crisis.

“The demands on police officers continue to increase and they are run ragged trying to fill gaps left by other depleted public services,” chair Steve Hartshorn told The Independent.

“We don’t just want warm words and political platitudes from the new home secretary; they need to take action to support police officers by ensuring effective welfare provision and fair pay and conditions of service that reflects the dangers officers encounter and takes account of the fact that they do not have access to industrial rights.”

The Police Superintendents’ Association has invited a “senior cabinet member” to address its annual conference next week, which may be the new home secretary’s first major public engagement.

President Paul Fotheringham said he would be “outlining my key concerns on behalf of the service”.

“Policing excels at delivering where others often can’t, with a continued commitment to keeping people safe and protecting communities, no matter what,” he added.

“The system within which we are asked to operate is becoming more and more challenging however, and the new home secretary must address this at pace.”

Ms Braverman will take over the implementation of a clutch of controversial new protest laws that were backed by Ms Patel, despite being defeated by the House of Lords in January..

The Public Order Bill would empower police to put electronic tags on disruptive demonstrators and restrict where they go, who they meet and what they do in person or online, even if they have not committed a crime.

It would also make “locking-on” - where campaigners lock themselves to parts of buildings - a criminal offence and allow the suspicionless stop and search of protesters for items that could be used for that purpose.

The Liberty human rights group urged the home secretary to “abandon the Public Order Bill” as her first act.

Head of policy and campaigns Sam Grant said: “Protest is a right, not a gift from the State, but measures in this Bill are designed to stop ordinary people from making their voices heard. Parliamentarians and the general public have already rejected these dangerous measures when they were first rushed through in the policing act, but the government has so far refused to listen.”

Mr Grant warned that the Home Office must “meaningfully engage with the communities they serve” amid deteriorating public confidence in police over violence against women, racism and misogyny.

Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, said the home secretary must “protect the right to protest and drop Patel's ridiculously extreme proposals”.

She added: “We'll be urging the new home secretary to give the country better leadership on technology, to make sure police use new tech wisely and say no to authoritarian extremes like live facial recognition.”

The Criminal Justice Alliance said a priority must be improving trust and confidence in policing, particularly among Black people.

Members called for Ms Braverman to reverse the recent extension of racially disproportionate police powers, such as suspicionless stop and search.

The Justice organisation said Ms Patel’s departure was a “chance to start afresh and abandon the discriminatory and divisive policies that have been introduced over the past three years”.

Lawyer Tyrone Steele added: “The new home secretary must urgently address the misogynistic, racist, and homophobic cultures that exist in police forces across the country, which have destroyed peoples’ trust in the police, especially that of ethnic minorities and women. We call on the new Home Secretary to adopt evidenced-based policies that will make a difference.”

The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales also called for policing culture to be a priority.

Dame Vera Baird QC called for the new home secretary to “lead the charge” for change, adding: “We must see a zero-tolerance approach to abusive, racist, and misogynistic behaviours across the board. Police must serve the public, not their own vested interests - victim confidence in policing depends on it.

“The home secretary must also finally deliver on making tackling violence against women and girls a national policing priority.”

Ms Braverman was previously the attorney general, but came under fire for alleged “serious constitutional impropriety” after appearing to pre-empt the results of a police investigation into Dominic Cummings’ breach of Covid laws. She denied wrongdoing and rebuffed calls to resign.

Her website says she practiced as a barrister for 10 years before becoming an MP, “specialising in planning law and judicial review”.

In 2010, she was appointed to the lowest rung of the attorney general’s specialist panel of Treasury counsel, and is not understood to have led any high-profile cases.

Ms Braverman’s constituency website says she defended the Home Office in immigration cases, and the Parole Board in legal challenges by prisoners.

“I was also involved in the lengthy Guantanamo Bay Inquiry into the treatment of detainees by US and UK forces,” it adds.

The Independent sought more detail from the attorney general’s office and Ministry of Defence about the work referred to but its questions were not answered.

A government spokesperson said Ms Braverman “did Guantanamo-related work for government but, for a range of legal reasons (including legal professional privilege), we can not give more details.”