It is hard to find many positives about the deeply troubling arrest of Damian Green, but one of them might be the renewed spotlight it casts on Britain's shambolic immigration system.
Forget about leaked documents for a moment, just the information that has been authorised for disclosure can be shocking enough, like the case I have highlighted of Hammersmith resident Hany Youssef being both on the UN Al-Qaeda list and being granted Discretionary Leave to Remain in this country, or of the awful consequences of a system that is not fit for purpose. and the effect it has on crime and other social problems.
In the Summer, I visited Lunar House, the headquarters of the UK Border Agency. I was impressed with the quality of the workforce, often very young people in senior positions, struggling manfully with the load. The offices were chaotic, however. Files were everywhere, and when I say files, I mean huge wads of paper with tatty cardboard covers, literally held together with pieces of string and rubber bands. Many of these files were thicker than they were wide. Those at Lunar House were clearly under pressure in an extremely unappealing working environment, obviously suffering from poor supervision and weak organisation.
I wasn't the least surprised to learn that staff disciplinaries are on the rise, but I was staggered this week to discover by how much. In response to my Parliamentary Question, Ministers revealed that disciplinary proceedings have QUADRUPLED at the UKBA in the last TWO years. This isn't a small number of staff causing it either - the number of staff involved has also nearly quadrupled, to more than 1,500.
The statistics confirm what I can see for my own eyes, and especially in my constituency casework - Britain's immigration system is close to complete collapse, and, yes, in support of Damian Green, the public does deserve to know.
