Theresa May

Members of the Windrush generation, despite being lawfully settled in the United Kingdom, were denied employment, healthcare or housing, detained or threatened with deportation under the enhanced immigration checks associated with the hostile environment. Wendy Williams's independent review concluded that the scandal was foreseeable and avoidable.

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Political responsibility

The withdrawal agreement negotiated by May with the EU was rejected by 432 votes to 202, a margin of 230 votes, described as the largest parliamentary defeat for a British government in the modern democratic era.

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Political responsibility

Parliament again rejected May's strategy, including a third attempt on 29 March 2019 by 344 votes to 286. Unable to secure a majority for her deal, she announced in May that she would leave the Conservative leadership and departed Downing Street in July.

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Political responsibility

May was heavily criticised for her first visit to Grenfell, during which she did not immediately meet survivors and residents. She subsequently acknowledged that the initial response had not been good enough and explicitly included herself in that criticism.

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Admitted by the person

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Political responsibility

After securing cabinet agreement on the Chequers strategy for a close economic relationship with the EU, May saw Brexit Secretary David Davis and then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resign within hours in opposition to that approach.

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Political responsibility

May introduced a minimum annual income of £18,600 for a British citizen or settled resident to bring a non-European spouse to the UK, with higher amounts for children. The rule was challenged for its effects on low-income families, women and certain regions.

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Directly implicated

For years, May defended the Conservative target of reducing net migration below 100,000 people annually, while the figures often remained several times higher; in 2015, net migration reached approximately 298,000 over the period measured.

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Directly implicated

In 2014, May introduced a mechanism allowing certain convicted foreign nationals to be deported before their human rights appeals were heard. In 2017, the Supreme Court concluded that the system did not effectively enable the claimants concerned to conduct their appeals from abroad.

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Directly implicated

May's government argued that it could notify Article 50 using the royal prerogative without an Act of Parliament. The Supreme Court rejected that argument by eight votes to three and required legislative authorisation.

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Political responsibility

The Conservative manifesto proposed requiring greater use of property assets to fund home care, without initially specifying a clear cap. Following several days of controversy, May announced that an absolute cap would be included after all.

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Directly implicated

After losing her majority, May reached a confidence-and-supply agreement with the DUP, accompanied by approximately £1 billion in additional funding for Northern Ireland, prompting accusations that she had bought political support and demands for equivalent treatment from other UK nations.

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Political responsibility

As Home Secretary, May oversaw a reduction of approximately 18% in police funding and a fall of more than 20,000 officers in England and Wales between the 2009 peak and 2016, an issue that became particularly controversial after the 2017 terrorist attacks.

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Directly implicated

May explicitly announced her intention to create a 'really hostile' environment for people without lawful immigration status. The measures transferred immigration checks to employers, landlords, banks and public services.

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Directly implicated

May promoted the Draft Communications Data Bill and then the Investigatory Powers Bill, proposing extensive powers for retaining connection data, accessing metadata and conducting government surveillance.

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Directly implicated

In her Conservative conference speech, May declared that if people considered themselves a 'citizen of the world', they were a 'citizen of nowhere', a phrase that came to symbolise a national-conservative shift after the referendum.

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Personally implicated

Under May, journalistic and parliamentary investigations and inspection reports denounced abuse, racist remarks, self-harm and prolonged detention at the Serco-operated Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre.

State of the evidence

Allegations

The Passport Office accumulated a significant backlog of applications and delays in 2014. After initially disputing the existence of a backlog, May announced emergency measures and brought the agency back under more direct Home Office control.

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Command responsibility

The Home Office deployed vans across London bearing the slogan 'Go home or face arrest', aimed at migrants without lawful status. The scheme was strongly criticised as intimidating and divisive between communities.

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Documented

At the Conservative Party conference, May claimed that an unlawful immigrant had not been deported because he owned a cat. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke and legal specialists challenged this account: the cat was not the decisive legal basis for the ruling.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated