Suella Braverman

This afternoon, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman gave her departure speech in the House of Commons after she was sacked by Rishi Sunak last month. Here is her speech in full: It is no secret that I support leaving the ECHR and replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights Madame Deputy Speaker, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to make this statement and I'd like to put on record my wishes to Mr Speaker that he makes a speedy recovery. Madame Deputy Speaker, serving in cabinet for just under four years has been a true honour and I’m thankful for the opportunity and grateful to the many civil servants with whom I worked.

Dear Prime Minister, Thank you for your phone call yesterday morning in which you asked me to leave Government. While disappointing, this is for the best. It has been my privilege to serve as Home Secretary and deliver on what the British people have sent us to Westminster to do. I want to thank all of those civil servants, police, Border Force officers and security professionals with whom I have worked and whose dedication to public safety is exemplary.

Dear Prime Minister, It is with the greatest regret that I am choosing to tender my resignation. Earlier today, I sent an official document from my personal email to a trusted parliamentary colleague as part of policy engagement, and with the aim of garnering support for government policy on migration. This constitutes a technical infringement of the rules. As you know, the document was a draft Written Ministerial Statement about migration, due for publication imminently. Much of it had already been briefed to MPs. Nevertheless it is right for me to go. I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign As soon as I realised my mistake, I rapidly reported this on official channels, and informed the Cabinet Secretary.

Dear Prime Minister, This is very difficult letter to write. One which I never expected to compose. It has been an immense honour to support you in delivering the historic opportunity of leaving the EU as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union. It has, in many ways, been a dream job which I have enjoyed tremendously. However, despite my strenuous attempts, I now find myself unable to sincerely support the deal agreed yesterday by Cabinet. It is therefore with deep regret that I tender my resignation. My reasons are simple. Firstly, the proposed Northern Ireland Backstop is not Brexit. It is not what the British people—or my constituents—voted for in 2016. It prevents an unequivocal exit from a customs union with the EU.