Robert Jenrick makes statement about plans to intervene in Liverpool council – live updates

Jenrick says he needs to intervene in the council.

He says he is planning to appoint commissioners who will take over certain “limited” council functions for a minimum of three years.

The council will have to draw up an improvement plan, he says.

He says he is writing to the council about that today.

Robert Jenrick says the police have been carrying out an investigation with significant links to Liverpool council.

He says he commissioned a best value inspection.

That is being published today.

It paints a “deeply concerning picture of mismanagement, the breakdown of scrutiny and accountability, a dysfunctional culture, putting the spending of public funds at risk”.

He says there was a failure of due process and proper record keeping, with some documentation “discarded in skips”.

There was dysfunctional management, with no coherent business plan and the awarding of “dubious contracts”, he says.

He says there was an environment of intimidation, according to the report. One person said the only way to survive in the council was not to ask too many questions, or apply professional standards.

The council was not meeting acceptable standards, he says

The pervasive culture seemed to be “rule avoidance”, according to the report, Jenrick says.

He says the report does not criticise all staff.

And he says the chief executive, Tony Reeves, has been playing a valuable role.

Priti Patel’s statement is over. We are now about the get a statement in the Commons from Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, about plans to intervene in Liverpool council following corruption allegations.

Here is our overnight preview.

And this is from the Times’ Patrick Maguire.

Paul Blomfield (Lab) says Patel’s plan is based on the assumption that there are safe and legal resettlement routes. But the Syrian refugee resettlement scheme has closed, and there are no details of the new scheme. How will it operate, and when will it start?

Patel claims the details are in the document.

The government wants to change the law so it can keep the option of offshore processing for asylum seekers “open”, details of its new immigration plan confirm. PA Media reports:

A Home Office policy statement on the government’s proposals said the UK’s asylum system is “too easily exploited by people-smugglers and does little to disincentivise individuals from attempting to enter the UK illegally”, adding that, if left unchecked, “illegal immigration puts unsustainable pressures on public services”.

Among a series of measures proposed to overhaul the system, it said: “We will also amend Sections 77 and 78 of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 so that it is possible to move asylum seekers from the UK while their asylum claim or appeal is pending.

“This will keep the option open, if required in the future, to develop the capacity for offshore asylum processing – in line with our international obligations.”

Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, says there are increasingly long waits for child refugees trying to use safe legal routes to come to the UK to rejoin families. She says the government promised to set them up after Dubbs was ended, but that has not happened. That is pushing people in the hands of people traffickers, she says.

Patel says most of those seeking asylum are young men. The government is committed to setting up safe and legal routes for children, she says.

Anne McLaughlin (SNP) says there is so much wrong with these plans that it is hard to sum up in two minutes.

She says the high rate of success on asylum appeals shows how genuine these claims are.

She says these measures are “ugly, dogwhistle politics”. The SNP wants no part of them, she says, and Scotland does not want the associated shame.

Shaun Bailey (Con) says our European neighbours need to “step up”. It is not fair that the UK should have to take the “lion’s share”, he claims.

Patel says Bailey is absolutely right.

Patel is responding to Thomas-Symonds.

She says it was distasteful of him to compare people seeking asylum to the Windrush generation. She says she is legislating to help them.

From taking in Ugandan Asians, to resettling more refugees than any other European country (see 12.53pm) to offering haven to people from Hong Kong, Conservative governments have a good record on immigration, she says.

She says Labour just wants to “turn a blind eye” to the problem of illegal immigration.

She says Labour’s approach would encourage illegal immigration and the criminal trade associated with it. She says that approach to human trafficking lacks compassion.

And Labour passed a conference motion for free movement, she says. In effect, they want open borders, she says.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, says Patel admits the immigration system is broken. But that is the fault of the Conservatives, who have been in charge.

He says the plans have been criticised by the UNHCR.

The Dubbs scheme was closed down after just 480 children were helped, not the 3,000 originally intended, he says.

He says DfID was the department that addressed the problems driving people to flee their countries in the first place. But it has been abolished, he says.

He says Patel could not name one country that was going to help with her plans to process asylum claims offshore. When Gibraltar and the Isle of Man were briefed as possible sites, those ideas were rubbished within hours.

He says urgent changes to immigration policy are needed to address the shortages in the health and social care workforce.

He says the Tories have broken the immigration system. But they have no idea how to fix it.

UPDATE: Here is a quote from Thomas-Symonds.

The plans risk baking into the UK system, the callousness frankly of this government’s approach …

These changes risk making the situation even worse for victims of human trafficking as it would be even harder to access help in the UK, helping criminal gangs escape justice …

The reality is the measures outlined today will do next to nothing to stop people making dangerous crossings and they risk withdrawing support from desperate people.

The Conservatives have undoubtedly broken the immigration system over the last 11 years but the reality today is they have absolutely no idea how to fix it.

Patel says there will be a one-stop process, requiring all claims to be made upfront.

The new system will be faster and fairer, she says.

She says the long-term plan will fix the broken system.

She says some opposition MPs have claimed all immigration controls are racist or sexist.

She says people say she lacks compassion. But this plan is intended to stop human trafficking.

And if Labour does not like the plan, where is theirs, she asks.

Patel confirms the law will be changed to remove an anomaly that has made it hard for some Windrush victims to get citizenship. My colleague Amelia Gentleman wrote about this here.