Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Theresa May admitting that the Police were never in possession of Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed’s passport, said: 

“This is a farce. For the Home Secretary not to have known the basic information about a missing terror suspect’s passport raises serious questions about how much else the Home Office have got wrong in handling terror suspect cases.

"The Home Secretary told the Commons that the main reason Mohamed was under a TPIM was to stop him travelling overseas. Surely the existence or whereabouts of his passport is crucial, basic information? How on earth can the Home Office have got this wrong?

“And today we also learn of reports questioning the level of surveillance Mohamed was under when he fled in disguise. The Home Secretary would not answer my questions in Parliament about the level of surveillance on either missing terror suspect. When Ibrahim Magag absconded in a black cab he was never found at all.

“None of this inspires any confidence that the Home Secretary has got a grip on not just this absconding, but on the serious issue of what will happen in January once her weaker TPIMs expire.

“The Home Secretary should come back to Parliament not just to apologise for wrong information and to put the record straight, but also to explain to the public what her plan is to deal with these serious terror suspects and get policy back under control.”

Notes to editors:

After a point of order in the House of Commons By Diana Johnson MP, the Speaker of the House of Commons is looking into whether the Home Secretary can ‘change Hansard’ or will have to come back to Parliament for her error over the missing TPIM suspect.