Fresh questions have been raised about the “development visa” announcement Braverman sent to several figures outside the government that led to her sacking almost two weeks ago, with one Conservative MP openly saying they “don’t accept or trust the word of this Minister of the Interior”. Labor claimed Braverman’s leak could have had significant financial implications, given the policy was designed to factor into Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts. In a letter seen by the Guardian, shadow City minister Tulip Siddiq wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) urging them to launch an investigation and argued the move could “tangibly affect financial markets”. He said there was a “case to answer” as the public interest and industry confidence in measures to prevent insider trading were based on trust that they would be fully enforced. Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, was also asked to confirm whether he believed the law had been broken. Siddiq told him it was “not unreasonable to suggest” that the policy leak “could lead to insider trading on the value of sterling” and have other serious implications “if it fell into the wrong hands”. Given that Downing Street had told reporters when Braverman was fired on October 19 that the information she leaked was market sensitive, Siddiq said breaching commercial intelligence laws “does not require proof that the market sensitive information was made for profit”. Unlawful disclosure “is itself a serious offence,” he added. Braverman denied the leaks were market sensitive. Siddiq quoted FCA advice to government agencies, which states that they “may hold information that is confidential, non-public and valuable”, which if mishandled could lead to “disorderly shopping” and “market abuse such as insider trading’. While the guidance says the law is not broken if the information is disclosed “in the normal course” of employment, Siddiq said it was “difficult to see that disclosing sensitive, confidential, important market policy from a personal email address to someone out of government is included in this exception to the rules.’ Six days after she was reappointed as home secretary by Rishi Sunak, Braverman confirmed she had passed a draft written ministerial statement on Liz Truss’ government’s launch of deployment visas to a key MP, Sir John Hayes, and a another parliamentary officer of another colleague. Given the admission, Siddiq said the FCA should launch an investigation into whether Braverman broke market abuse laws or regulations and confirm that senior ministers should demonstrate the highest standards of protection of market-sensitive information. A source close to the home secretary said she was clear that “the information was not market sensitive as all the data was already in the public domain”. They added: “Labour would seemingly rather stand on the sidelines on issues that are not the priorities of the British people they claim to represent than focus on how to curb illegal immigration into the UK, for which they have no plan. “ Tory MP Roger Gale claimed Braverman was “really only interested in playing the right wing” and told Times Radio he was suspicious of her refusal to reject legal advice about overcrowding at the facility in Manston. “I don’t take or trust the words of this home secretary,” Gale said. Braverman came under further fire from Home Office staff for her language in the Commons on Monday. After a petrol bomb was thrown at a migrant facility in Dover, officials privately expressed concern that her comments could encourage further attacks on official buildings – putting workers and people seeking asylum in the UK at risk. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A staff member who works near the bombed site said Braverman’s description of the increase as an “invasion” had left staff on the south coast feeling nervous. “This guy drove from High Wycombe to commit this act,” they said. “He is one of many people who are angry about immigration and the numbers coming into the UK. And then they hear the Home Secretary saying there’s an invasion along that coast. “It seems so irresponsible for a person in his position to reinforce what he reads on social media. Inevitably, some will begin to think that we are part of the problem because we are supposed to be dealing with the situation. We work in buildings with little security and we feel very exposed.” Another senior Home Office source from the ministry’s London headquarters said: “People here are furious.” They added: “We can’t believe he’s using the inflammatory language that so many of us were told we couldn’t use, period. If we used language like “swarm” to a colleague, we could face disciplinary proceedings. But is she allowed to use it in parliament?’ Sources on the ground at Manston said that by around midday on Tuesday the number of asylum seekers being held on site had dropped to around 3,600, while the number of stamps in use had increased from 22 to 30. Cleaning had begun to take place in parts of the site, they added sources. Her spokesman Rishi Sunak did not criticize Braverman for her comments and claimed she was seeking to express the “austere scale of the challenge”. The spokesman also claimed that a “significant proportion” of people arriving were economic migrants – but was unable to provide figures or figures.
