Priti Patel: British Home Secretary resigns

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Priti Patel: "It was the honor of my life"

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ANDREW BOYERS/AFP

British Home Secretary Priti Patel has resigned shortly before the appointment of the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.

"It has been the honor of my life to serve our country as Home Secretary for the past three years," Patel wrote in her resignation letter to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday night.

On Tuesday, the new leader of the British Conservatives, former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, is to replace Johnson at the head of government.

Patel is closely associated with some of the most controversial reforms of Johnson's administration.

She signed an agreement with the Rwandan government to outsource Britain's duty to protect asylum seekers.

The Rwanda Pact, which is currently being reviewed for legality by the London High Court, provides for illegal immigrants in Great Britain to be flown to Rwanda, regardless of their origin and without their asylum application being examined.

They should then submit their application for asylum there.

A return to Great Britain is not planned.

In her letter, Patel described the fact that migrants illegally cross the English Channel from France to England as “frustrating”.

Therefore, she has fully examined measures such as so-called pushbacks at sea and military operations, she wrote.

Serious restrictions on the right to demonstrate

Another project promoted by Patel was a reform of the police law, which critics believe resulted in serious restrictions on the right to demonstrate.

This means that protests can be stopped by the police because of noise pollution, among other things.

Whether the Conservative government under Liz Truss will adopt a more moderate course is by no means certain with Patel's departure.

The previous chief legal officer Suella Braverman, whose views are at least as right-wing conservative, is considered a promising candidate for the post of interior minister.

sak/dpa