Another Labour legacy

Poor old Pete Hodgson doesn’t seem to have realised they lost the election, and is complaining that Jonathan Coleman is going to dismantle the Pacific division of the Immigration Service. The Herald reports:

Labour Immigration spokesman Pete Hodgson said Dr Coleman’s decision was short-sighted and based on political grounds because Labour had created the division.

So let us look at this wonderful legacy Labour left, according to an independent report:

• the division had had no clear picture of its duties
• lacked strong leadership
• had become isolated from the rest of the Immigration Service
• its leadership created an “us and them” approach
• attitude prevailed among staff that its leadership was “untouchable”
• staff were not properly trained or resourced
• problems with inconsistent decision-making
• difficult decisions were sometimes put in the “too hard basket”
• staff morale problems included grievances over pay and conditions
• poor internal relationships
• concern regarding financial processes and compliance
• huge backlogs of applications and issues regarding timeliness and quality

They should be proud.