Amber Rudd makes first backbench speech for six years

Three days after handing in her resignation as Home Secretary, Mrs Rudd took the opportunity to congratulate Sajid Javid MP for his promotion to the role.

To cheers from members within the Chamber, she said: “Could I take the opportunity to congratulate my right honourable friend for Bromsgrove on his appointment to the Home Office. It’s such an important department, not only in terms of security but also in terms of ensuring we have a safe and fair immigration policy.

“The UK threat level remains at severe. Last year, we had five terrorist attacks that got through and 36 innocent people that were killed. Could I invite the Prime Minister to share with me our admiration for the extraordinary work and bravery that is done by our counter-terrorism for policing, our emergency services and our security services which I know we are all grateful for.”

Responding to her comments, Theresa May said she was ‘pleased’ to be given the opportunity to thank Mrs Rudd for ‘the work she did as Home Secretary’.

The Prime Minister added: “She did valuable work across all elements of the Home Office, including issues like modern slavery and domestic violence. The work my right honourable friend did with the internet companies in terms of keeping people safe on the internet was groundbreaking.”

Mrs Rudd handed in her resignation from the role of Home Secretary, on Sunday, after coming under fire over for the Government’s handling of the Windrush scandal, where some migrants from Commonwealth countries, who settled in the UK, and their relatives had been declared illegal immigrants.

She then apologised on Friday for saying she had not been aware of specific targets for the removal of illegal immigrants.

In a statement after making her speech on Wednesday (May 2), Mrs Rudd said: “Today I was grateful for the opportunity to set out my admiration for the extraordinary work done by our counter terrorist police, emergency services and security services in my first question in the House of Commons from the back benches in six years.”