Amber Rudd has resigned as home secretary after repeatedly struggling to explain her role in the unjust treatment of Windrush generation migrants.

The home secretary had faced mounting pressure over her role in setting the culture and policies that led to long-term residents of Britain from Caribbean countries being denied healthcare, pensions and benefits and in some cases being threatened with deportation.

Rudd had been due to appear before parliament on Monday to explain apparent discrepancies between her evidence to the home affairs select committee last week and a memo leaked to the Guardian that linked her to targets for removing migrants.

Challenged repeatedly about such targets by Labour MP Yvette Cooper at the home affairs select committee, Rudd had insisted: “That’s not how we operate.”

Downing Street sources said that in preparing for her Commons statement on Monday, new information had become available that convinced her she must resign. However, they continued to insist that the “ambition” for a 10% increase in removals mentioned in a separate leaked letter was not a formal target.

Rudd spoke to the prime minister by telephone on Sunday evening to tender her resignation. </s> Amber Rudd has finally bowed to massive pressure and quit saying she had to 'take responsibility' for misleading parliament over deportation targets for illegal migrants.

It is believed the Home Secretary decided to fall on her sword rather than face more humiliation amid the outcry over the Windrush immigration debacle, and telephoned Theresa May to inform her of the move late on Sunday.

The dramatic departure will be a huge blow for the Prime Minister - who is expected to annoucne her replacement shortly.

MailOnline brings you all the latest updates here:

To read this in the app, please click here. </s> The resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd came after documents leaked in the British press showed that she set a target to increase the number of deportations by 10 per cent, despite her denials

One of Britains most senior cabinet ministers has resigned after growing pressure over her handling of targets to deport illegal immigrants. The resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd came after documents leaked in the British press showed that she set a target to increase the number of deportations by 10 per cent, despite her denials.

Rudd has been forced to quit after weeks of criticism of the British government's treatment of long-term migrants from the Caribbean, known as the Windrush generation. They were threatened with deportation and some were even denied medical treatment because they didn't have documents to prove that they had been living in the UK for decades.

But ironically, and perhaps unfairly, for Rudd, leaked documents also indicate that the policy of forced removal of illegal immigrants was aimed at recent arrivals, mainly from India and Pakistan, and not for the Windrush generation, though some were affected by it.

The letter she wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May in January last year, which was published in the Guardian on Sunday, mentioned her forthcoming visit to Pakistan to finalise an agreement on biometric returns which would make it easier to deport illegal immigrants to that country. And she did visit Pakistan three months later. A leading think tank, Migration Watch, has estimated that there are about 200,000 Pakistanis living illegally in the UK.

There are no such estimates available for illegal immigrants from India but another recent study by Oxford University's The Migration Observatory has said that 6,580 Indian were deported in 2016, the top country of enforced removals or voluntary departures from Britain. Pakistan, with 3,857, stood at second place. Both countries together made it 27 per cent of such removals. No wonder illegal immigration from these two countries is a major cause for concern in Britain.

In January, India's Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, signed an agreement with Britain on the swift return of Indian illegal immigrants from the UK, an issue that has been repeatedly raised by British government officials to their Indian counterparts.

Rudd has only followed her predecessor and the current Prime Minister May's policy of creating a "hostile environment for illegal immigrants". Her departure now puts May in the firing line because the opposition in Britain is unlikely to keep quiet on the issue after Rudd's resignation.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever </s> London: Britain's interior minister Amber Rudd resigned on Sunday over an illegal immigration policy controversy, in a bitter blow to Prime Minister Theresa May days before local elections.

Rudd stood down amid claims she mislead lawmakers on whether her department held targets for removing illegal immigrants in Britain.

"The prime minister has tonight accepted the resignation of the home secretary," said a spokesman for May's office.

Rudd telephoned May to inform her of the decision following days of intensifying pressure over the immigration issue and increasing calls for her to quit.

That had followed weeks of scrutiny of her handling of another Home Office scandal: the targeting of the so-called Windrush generation.

Commonwealth citizens primarily from the Caribbean who came to Britain in the post-World War II decades had been wrongly threatened with deportation, provoking an outcry when it emerged earlier this month.

Their erroneous targeting stemmed from a "hostile environment" immigration policy pioneered by May when she was interior minister between 2010 and 2016, and then continued by Rudd.

The opposition Labour Party had accused Rudd of incompetence and being a "human shield" for May.

"This was inevitable, the only surprise is that it took so long," said shadow interior minister Diane Abbott following Rudd's resignation.

"The architect of this crisis, Theresa May, must now step forward to give a full and honest account of how this inexcusable situation happened on her watch."

Rudd's decision to step down will come as a severe setback for the Conservative leader, who publicly declared her "full confidence" in Rudd as recently as Friday and faces potentially bruising local council elections across England on Thursday.

May could see the Tories wiped out in London, where several once-safe Conservative councils could flip to Labour.

As the Windrush scandal intensified, Rudd told a parliamentary committee the Home Office did not keep targets for the number of illegal immigrants removed from Britain.

While she maintained she was unaware of such measures, there was mounting evidence that targets did exist and were known about within her department, making her position increasingly untenable.

Rudd had been due to make another appearance before parliament on Monday, but instead opted to resign late Sunday.

The MP for Hastings on England's south coast, who had led the Home Office since 2016, was seen as a moderate on the European Union and a balancing force in a cabinet made up of several big-name pro-Brexit figures, such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

Both men were quick to praise her on social media following news of the resignation.

"Really sad to lose @AmberRuddHR from Cabinet. A fine colleague who did a great job during last year's terrorist attacks and cares deeply about the people she serves," Johnson tweeted.

Gove said he was "so sad" about her departure, adding on Twitter "she was a huge asset... I hope Amber will be back soon -- we need her."

One of the more heartfelt reactions came from George Osborne, long-time finance minister under former Prime Minister David Cameron.

He wrote: "The Government just got a bit less human." </s> Amber Rudd is back in cabinet as the new work and pensions secretary after Esther McVey resigned yesterday, according to Downing Street.

Former home secretary Rudd is set to replace McVey after she walked out in protest over Theresa May’s Brexit agreement.

Downing Street said: ‘The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP to be Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’.

Rudd stepped down as home secretary in April over her handling of the Windrush generation scandal.

She had faced growing pressure to resign amid claims she misled parliament over targets for removing illegal migrants.

Mcvey quit in response to the EU withdrawal plan agreed by UK and EU negotiators.

In a resignation letter, McVey wrote: ‘The deal you put before the cabinet yesterday does not honour the result of the referendum.

‘Indeed, it doesn’t meet the tests you set from the outset of your premiership.’

She added: ‘It threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom, which as a unionist is a risk I cannot be party to.’

Rudd is the sixth work and pensions secretary.

This is a breaking new story… more to follow </s> London—Pakistani-origin MP Sajid Javid was today appointed as Britain's new Home Secretary, hours after his predecessor Amber Rudd resigned after admitting that she had "inadvertently misled" Parliament over the existence of deportation targets for immigrants.

Javid, the son of a Pakistani bus driver whose family migrated to Britain in the 1960s, was promoted from his Cabinet post of Communities, Local Government and Housing minister.

The 48-year-old former investment banker becomes the first South Asian origin MP to hold the key portfolio in the UK Cabinet.

He is the Conservative party MP for Bromsgrove and has previously held business and culture portfolios in the UK government.

"The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of...Sajid Javid MP as secretary of state for the home department," a Downing Street statement said.

His appointment is widely seen as a way for British Prime Minister Theresa May to curtail the backlash from the so-called Windrush scandal, which brought to light the unfair treatment of Commonwealth citizens from Jamaica over a lack of citizenship documentation.

"I was really concerned when I first started hearing and reading about some of the issues. It immediately impacted me. I'm a second-generation migrant. My parents came to this country... just like the Windrush generation," Javid wrote in 'The Sunday Telegraph'.

"When I heard about the Windrush issue I thought, That could be my mum it could be my dad it could be my uncle it could be me," he added.

James Brokenshire, the former Northern Ireland secretary who stood down in January due to health reasons to have a tumour removed from his lung, has been moved into Javid's old job as Housing, Communities and Local Government secretary.

UK international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, takes on the additional role of minister for equalities.

The resignation of 52-year-old Rudd, a key ally of May, followed weeks of pressure ever since her statement to the Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee denying knowledge of any targets to remove illegal migrants from the UK.

Leaked memos and letters in the media seemed to contradict her claims, resulting in her decision to step down.

The furor has grown since The Guardian reported that some people who came to the UK from the Caribbean in the decades after World War II had recently been refused medical care in Britain or threatened with deportation because they could not produce paperwork proving their right to reside in the country.

Those affected belong to the Windrush generation, named for the ship Empire Windrush, which in 1948 brought hundreds of Caribbean immigrants to Britain to help it rebuild after the devastation of World War II.

In recent weeks, Rudd and May have apologised repeatedly to the Windrush generation, saying all pre-1973 Commonwealth immigrants who don't already have British citizenship will get it, and those affected will get compensation.

Rudd said she took "full responsibility" for the fact that she was not aware of "information provided to (her) office which makes mention of targets".

She telephoned May to tell her of her decision, but in a letter that officially marked it she wrote: "It is with great regret that I am resigning as home secretary.

"I feel it is necessary to do so because I inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants during their questions on Windrush."

May said she understood why Rudd was stepping down and confirmed she had read her letter, adding: "I was very sorry to receive it."

The prime minister said she believed Rudd had given her evidence to the House of Commons "in good faith" but that she understood her decision to resign and take "responsibility for inadvertently misleading the home affairs select committee".

Rudd's resignation may weaken Prime Minister Theresa May's government. The prime minister doesn't have a majority in the UK parliament and is struggling with Brexit negotiations.

Since May lost her parliamentary majority in elections last June, her leadership has often been under question, and she has already suffered three prior cabinet resignations.

Rudd became the fourth person forced to resign from the UK Cabinet in the last six months following former defence minister Sir Michael Fallon, former international development minister Priti Patel and May's deputy Damian Green.

The latest resignation comes just days before local council elections in Britain, due to be held on May 3, during which the Opposition parties will hope to capitalise on some of the upheaval in government. </s> Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd has resigned after acknowledging that she misled lawmakers about targets for deporting immigrants.

Rudd stepped down following the publication of a letter she sent to Prime Minister Theresa May discussing the "ambitious but deliverable" goal to deport 10 percent more illegal immigrants in the coming years.

The letter, published by The Guardian newspaper, contradicts Rudd's earlier claims that her department had no such targets. It comes amid an ongoing controversy sparked by the newspaper's earlier reporting that some people who migrated to the U.K. from Britain's Caribbean colonies immediately after World War II had been denied medical care or threatened with deportation.

The post-World War II migrants, who came to Britain to take jobs as nurses, railway workers and others, are collectively known as the "Windrush generation," after the ship that brought many of them to the U.K. in 1948.

As The Associated Press notes, they "had an automatic right to settle in the U.K. But some have been ensnared by tough new rules introduced since 2012 that were intended to make Britain a 'hostile environment' for illegal immigrants."

"What has happened to the Windrush generation isn't an anomaly. It's not due to an administrative error. It's a consequence of the hostile environment created by this (Conservative) government," London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said Sunday, according to AP.

The Guardian also reports that a former Home Office employee acknowledged that thousands of "landing cards" recording the arrival of Caribbean migrants in the U.K. had been deliberately destroyed in recent years.

According to the newspaper: "The former employee (who has asked for his name not to be printed) said it was decided in 2010 to destroy the disembarkation cards, which dated back to the 1950s and 60s, when the Home Office's Whitgift Centre in Croydon was closed and the staff were moved to another site. Employees in his department told their managers it was a bad idea, because these papers were often the last remaining record of a person's arrival date, in the event of uncertainty or lost documents. The files were destroyed in October that year, when Theresa May was home secretary."

Rudd and May recently apologized over the controversy, saying all immigrants from the Commonwealth who arrived in the U.K. before 1973 are eligible for British citizenship. </s> Ms Rudd had previously declared to a parliamentary committee the Government had no specific targets with regard to the removal of illegal immigrants. However, she was lambasted for misleading Parliament after a leaked Home Office memo spoke of a target of 2,800 enforced returns for 2017-2018. After almost two years in the role, Ms Rudd declared that she felt it was “necessary” to resign and admitted she “inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee” over the targets.

“It is with great regret that I am resigning as Home Secretary. I feel it is necessary to do so because I inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants during their questions on Windrush. “Since appearing before the Select Committee, I have reviewed the advice was given on this issue and become aware of information provided to my office which makes mention of targets. I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not. “The Windrush scandal has rightly shone a light on an important issue for our country. As so often, the instincts of the British people are right. They want people who have a right to live here to be treated fairly and humanely, which has sometimes not been the case. But they also want the Government to remove those who don't have the right to be here. “I had hoped in coming months to devise a policy that would allow the Government to meet both these vital objectives - including bringing forward urgent legislation to ensure the rights of the Windrush generation are protected. The task force is working well, the residence cards are being issued well within the two weeks promised, and the design of the compensation scheme is making good progress.

“The Home Office is one of the great offices of state and its job is to keep people safe. It comes with the responsibility to fight terrorism, support and challenge the police and protect people against abuse, as well as manage migration. “It has been a great privilege to serve as your Home Secretary. I have seen first-hand the second to none commitment and bravery of our police, fire and intelligence services, they truly are the best in the world and we should rightly be extremely proud of them. “I have been particularly pleased that we were able to set up the first Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism which has led the way with encouraging social media sites to go further and faster in taking down radicalising and terrorist material, which plays such a dangerous part in increasing extremism.

“Setting out new laws to tackle the scourge of knife crime and acid attacks and helping to steer our young people away from a life of crime and violence by providing them with credible alternatives have been particularly important to me. “Opportunities to work on issues that safeguard the vulnerable, champion women and make a lasting impact on people's lives particularly stand out for me. New policies to fight domestic violence and abuse against women are out to consultation, and will lead this country to taking a new approach. “Helping to bring over thousands of refugees, including child refugees from both Calais and the Middle East region, and meeting some of the families who fled the terrible situation in Syria and have now been given a chance to rebuild their lives here in the UK in safety and security is something we can be proud of.

“It has been an honour to work on a new security treaty with the EU as part of our new partnership going forward and to participate in your Brexit sub-committee helping to ensure that we have the best possible EU deal for our economy, businesses, jobs and people across the UK. “The new Economic Crime Centre that I launched with the first use of unexplained wealth orders will be important to the confidence of London as a financial centre. “I will continue to support the Home Office ministerial team whenever possible on all these important subjects, supporting the Government from the back benches and continuing to work hard for my constituents of Hastings and Rye. </s> LONDON — Britain’s interior minister resigned Sunday amid a scandal over authorities’ mistreatment of long-term United Kingdom residents wrongly caught up in a government drive to reduce illegal immigration.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said late Sunday that she had accepted the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

The scandal has dominated headlines in Britain for days and has sparked intense criticism of the Conservative government’s tough immigration policies.

Rudd had been due to make a statement to Parliament on Monday over what has become known as the Windrush scandal.

The furor has grown since The Guardian newspaper reported that some people who came to the U.K. from the Caribbean in the decades after World War II had recently been refused medical care in Britain or threatened with deportation because they could not produce paperwork proving their right to reside in the country.

Those affected belong to the “Windrush generation,” named for the ship Empire Windrush, which in 1948 brought hundreds of Caribbean immigrants to Britain, which was seeking nurses, railway workers and others to help it rebuild after the devastation of World War II.

They and subsequent Caribbean migrants came from British colonies or ex-colonies and had an automatic right to settle in the U.K. But some have been ensnared by tough new rules introduced since 2012 that are designed to make Britain a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants.

Legal migrants have been denied housing, jobs or medical treatment in Britain because of requirements that landlords, employers and doctors check people’s immigration status. Others have been told by the government that they are in Britain illegally and must leave.

“What has happened to the Windrush generation isn’t an anomaly. It’s not due to an administrative error. It’s a consequence of the hostile environment created by this (Conservative) government,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said Sunday.

In recent weeks Rudd and May have apologized repeatedly to the Windrush generation, saying all pre-1973 Commonwealth immigrants who don’t already have British citizenship will get it, and those affected will get compensation.

Rudd’s position worsened after she told lawmakers last week that the government did not have targets for deporting people — only for a 2017 memo to emerge that mentioned specific targets for “enforced removals.”

Rudd said she didn’t see the memo, but The Guardian later published a leaked letter she wrote to the prime minister discussing an aim of increasing removals by 10%.

Resisting calls to resign, Rudd tweeted Friday that “I will work to ensure that our immigration policy is fair and humane.”

That’s not enough for many opposition lawmakers, 200 of whom have signed a letter demanding the government turn its promises to the migrants into law.

The Windrush debacle is also causing anxiety for the 3 million European Union citizens living in Britain who are concerned about their immigration status after the country leaves the EU next March. The British government says they will be allowed to stay and has promised to set up a simple no-fuss registration process.

But Labour lawmaker David Lammy, a strong critic of the government’s immigration policies, said the scandal would cause EU citizens to think, “My God, if this can happen to Windrush, of course it can happen to us.”

The Conservative government has an oft-stated but long-unmet goal of reducing net immigration below 100,000 people a year, less than half the current level. Many voters who backed leaving the EU cited a desire to reduce the number of migrants coming to Britain.

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Amber Rudd resigns as the United Kingdom's Home Secretary amid controversy over the threatened deportation of Windrush generation immigrants.