By James Sorene

The list of recent Home Office failures is long and depressing.

The mistaken release of convicted sex offender Hadush Kebatu last week from Chelmsford Prison was the result of a shocking breakdown between the Prison and Immigration Service. Kebatu’s crime ignited communal concern and put Epping in the unwanted role of ground zero in an immigration culture war.

It also highlighted the risk of sending asylum applicants to hotels on the high street in our towns and cities. This was in the same week that the Home Affairs Select Committee said the cost of Home Office contracts to house asylum seekers in hotels has tripled from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion.

The failure to deport foreign national prisoners was the dark origin story of the Department of Justice and led Home Secretary John Reid to declare in 2006 that the Home Office was not fit for purpose.

Prime Minister Tony Blair decided it was too big a behemoth to manage properly and broke it up in 2007 placing the prisons and probation system in the new Justice Department. That was........

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