The video will start in 8 Cancel

What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Tory Immigration Minister was blasted tonight after it emerged the government has wrongly deported people from the UK - and she didn’t know.

Bungling Caroline Nokes was forced to correct herself minutes after telling MPs: “I don’t think I’ve had any cases of wrongful deportation brought to my attention.”

Her claim was instantly contradicted by Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who unveiled a letter by Ms Nokes’ predecessor showing his constituent was wrongly deported to Somalia.

Hugh Ind, Home Office Director-General of Immigration Enforcement, then confirmed there were “a handful” of wrongful deportations in six years - estimating around five.

Asked why no one briefed her about the cases - which are not Windrush citizens - Ms Nokes said: “I don’t think I can answer that.”

The furious clash, at a three-hour hearing of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, sparked fresh questions about ministers’ competence in the wake of the Windrush scandal .

(Image: Parliament Live TV)

It came as reports emerged that the Home Office was repeatedly warned Windrush citizens were being wrongly classed as illegal immigrants as early as 2013.

Ms Nokes confirmed the Home Office is combing through 8,000 records of Windrush-era citizens who “may have been removed incorrectly” since 2002.

She stressed that did not mean 8,000 people were wrongly removed, and officials had still not found one wrongful Windrush removal, “but it’s very clear that people have been detained.”

But Mr Doughty fumed: “Why should we have any confidence that when you’re doing the deep trawl of Windrush cases you’ll be able to find out what’s gone on?”

(Image: PA)

(Image: Parliament Live TV)

Labour MP Naz Shah said: “You got it wrong on Windrush. How much more do you want to get wrong?”

Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper warned there was a “culture of disbelief” in the Home Office and “pressure in the Home Office to get as many people as possible to leave”.

She declared: “It does feel like, frankly, the system is in a real mess.”

It came as the government launched an urgent inquiry into events leading to Amber Rudd ’s resignation as Home Secretary.

Theresa May’s ethics tsar Sir Alex Allan will probe what advice officials gave before Ms Rudd wrongly claimed “we don’t have targets” for removing illegal migrants.

Home Office chiefs confirmed there were targets to remove illegal migrants in 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18. In 2017/18 it was set at 12,800 “enforced returns” and later lowered to 230 to 250 per week.

(Image: Parliament Live TV)

But MPs branded the Home Office’s most senior civil servant “slippery” after he described the figure as an “expectation” or “ambition”, not a “target”.

Permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam also faced disbelief as he tried to rebuff questions by saying: “I’m not an expert on the immigration system”.

MP John Woodcock branded Sir Philip “Sir Humphrey-tastic” and the lack of knowledge “embarrassing”, telling the top mandarin: “Do you understand how absurd this sounds to normal people?”

Mr Woodcock also accused top Home Office civil servant Glyn Williams of “lying” about removal targets in an earlier hearing. Sir Philip said the claim was “a very serious accusation of dishonesty which I do not accept.”

Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper told Sir Philip: “This is basically like you’re playing games with us. It’s like if we don’t use the right word in the question it’s okay for you not to give us proper information.

“It all feels really slippery.”

Mr Doughty accused officials of “slippery tactics”. He added: “What on earth is going on in your department if we can’t get answers to the most basic questions that have been repeatedly raised with you?”

Who are the Windrush generation? The 'Windrush generation' are British residents who arrived from Commonwealth countries before New Year's Day 1973. They are named after the Empire Windrush, the ship which brought some of the first Caribbean migrants to Britain in 1948. Anyone who arrived in the UK from a Commonwealth country before 1973 has a legal right to stay, unless they left the UK for more than two years. But they faced being threatened with deportation under new immigration rules despite living and working here for decades. People were ordered to prove they have the right to be in the UK to rent property, work or access services and benefits. The government failed to keep detailed records of Windrush arrivals, and landing cards were destroyed in 2010. The Home Office set up a task force with the aim of sorting out cases. Windrush immigrants are also being granted fee-free citizenship and a compensation scheme. Read more if you're affected here or call a government hotline on 0300 123 2241 (option 1).

It came as enforcement chief Mr Ind admitted there was a “deep problem” with unlawful immigration detention - with £3.3million paid out in compensation to victims last year.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke told MPs he was still waiting for detention centres to draw up improvement plans as far back as 2016.

One centre alone held 23 detainees for more than a year while deaths in detention, including self-inflicted deaths, “have risen very markedly”, MPs heard.

In nine cases, detention continued despite officials acknowledging torture had taken place.

(Image: SWNS.com)

Top inspector Hindpal Singh Bhui told MPs vulnerable people were locked in a “stand-off” where the Home Office is “waiting for detainees to give up”.

He added the lack of a time limit for immigration detention - which costs the state £85.97 a day - did not put enough pressure on the Home Office to resolve cases quickly.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott blasted ministers for renewing G4S’s contract to run Brook House, despite BBC Panorama broadcasting undercover footage which appeared to show workers bullying and abusing men who were held there.

Ms Abbott said renewing the contract for two years was “not commensurate with a humane system of dealing with migrants.”

Mr Clarke said he felt “absolute disgust” watching Panorama but insisted neither managers, monitors nor NGOs saw such behaviour.