Priti Patel has refused to attend a planned session giving evidence to parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, and will not answer questions until after the Conservative leadership election - if she is still in post.
The home secretary was due to be questioned on issues including the Rwanda migrant deal, violence against women and girls, policing and passport delays on Wednesday morning.
Minutes before the session was due to start, the Home Affairs Committee tweeted: “This morning at 10.00am we were due to be questioning the home secretary, Priti Patel. She has declined to attend our session.”
Stuart McDonald, a Scottish National Party MP who sits on the committee, said the home secretary emailed the committee shortly before 5pm on Tuesday to cancel her appearance.
The reason given was “recent changes in government”, including to her ministerial team, following a wave of resignations that ousted Boris Johnson.
Ms Patel remained in her post and pitched to influential MPs to run in the Conservative leadership race, but ruled herself out on Tuesday after failing to receive sufficient support.
She is expected to continue as home secretary until at least September, when the winning candidate will become prime minister and reshuffle the cabinet.
Ms Patel’s situation is uncertain, amid concern among Conservative MPs over her failure to reduce Channel migrant crossings and doubts over the effectiveness and costs of the Rwanda deal.
The chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Diana Johnson, called the refusal to attend Wednesday’s evidence session “wholly unacceptable”.
“This date was agreed months in advance and the reason given for why the home secretary cannot attend this morning - due to changes in the Home Office ministerial team - does not make sense as it was the home secretary giving evidence and not a junior minister,” she said.
Ms Patel had been due to appear before the committee alongside the Home Office’s two most senior civil servants, permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft and second permanent secretary Tricia Hayes.
In her email to the committee, Ms Patel said its scrutiny was “always a priority for the department and me”.
“The committee will be aware of the recent changes in government, and in particular to the ministerial team in my department,” she wrote.
“Regrettably, as a result of this and the wider unprecedented changes since I agreed to give evidence, I will no longer be able to meet with the Committee tomorrow. I would however like to ensure that the session goes ahead at the next appropriate point, and suggest that we postpone until a mutually agreed date in September.”
The result of the Conservative leadership election will be announced on 5 September, which is the same date High Court judges will review if the Rwanda scheme is lawful.
In her official response to the email, Ms Johnson called the home secretary’s decision “extremely disappointing”.
“We have been given to understand that, despite the prime minister’s resignation last week, we still have a functioning government in place, as signalled by the appointment of a number of ministers over the last few days,” she added.
“As such, it is essential that our Committee is able to scrutinise the policy and actions of this government, and, in these uncertain times, even more so.”
Ms Johnson reminded Ms Patel she was “still the home secretary” and pointed to a previous statement suggesting she did not resign alongside cabinet colleagues because she wanted to focus on the “business of government and our national security”.
The committee chair added: “We would therefore ask why, a week on, you now feel it is acceptable to avoid a key element of the role – facing up to much needed scrutiny of that essential work.”
Ms Johnson requested the home secretary attends a new evidence session on Wednesday 20 July, which is the last possible date before parliament’s summer recess, but there has not yet been a reply.
The home secretary was previously accused of shying away from the committee in 2020, when the then-chair Yvette Cooper wrote a series of letters attempting to fix a date for her to give evidence.
