Home Office to be split

1.50.09pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 30th Mar 2007

The Home Office will be split into two separate departments for security and for justice in the next six weeks. The Department for Constitutional Affairs will take control of probation, prisons and prevention of re-offending and be renamed the Ministry of Justice. The slimmed down Home Office will then be left to concentrate on dealing with terrorism, security and immigration. The changes will take effect on 8 May.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson said "The devil will be in the detail. Splitting the Home Office is something we have long advocated, but it cannot be artificially rushed. The timing of this decision seems entirely driven by internal Labour party politics as John Reid and Tony Blair seek to make the change before Gordon Brown takes over. This risks transforming a good idea into a botched job. Any proposals should be submitted to Parliament for full debate and scrutiny, and sufficient time must be set aside to get the decision right."