Patel is equating refugees with terrorists to appeal to the Conservative base

The home secretary knows exactly what she is doing by commenting on the Liverpool case, argues Sean O’Grady

Ms Patel is not keen, understandably, to be held responsible for failings in a system she has presided over, but she is doing so by appearing to prejudge the conclusions of the criminal justice system (PA)

Home secretaries, by convention, are supposed to be wary of speaking out about sensitive cases, even where it involves a dead suicide bomber. Investigations into the declared terrorist incident in Liverpool are continuing, and the orderly process of justice requires that politicians should keep their views to themselves. Priti Patel, you might say, doesn’t think these old political rules quite apply to her. She is certain about where blames lies.

Speaking to journalists on a flight to Washington, she expressed the view that the attack was a reflection of Britain’s “dysfunctional” asylum system and took aim at a “whole professional legal services industry that has based itself on rights of appeal”.

In the home secretary’s considered view: “It’s a complete merry-go-round and it has been exploited – a whole sort of professional legal services industry has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day in, day out, at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid … There’s a whole industry that thinks it’s right to defend these individuals that cause the most appalling crimes against British citizens, devastating their lives, blighting communities – and that is completely wrong.”