SPLITTING UP HOME OFFICE 'REARRANGING DECKCHAIRS ON THE TITANIC'

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 22nd Jan 2007

Commenting on John Reid's annoucement that the Home Office is to be split in two, Liberal Democrat Sam Potts said:

"This belated recognition that the Home Office is over-sized is of course welcome, since we have long argued that it should be split up. However, a Whitehall reorganisation will not work unless it is accompanied by a total change of political approach towards home affairs by this New Labour government.

"The wholesale degeneration of our criminal justice system is largely due to a political culture of frenzied law making, short term target setting and a day to day pursuit of headlines. Splitting up the Home Office will be like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic unless it is accompanied by an equally dramatic change of heart in the political mismanagement of home affairs."

ENDS