Woman, believed to be from Sierra Leone, was employed by an agency Employee had been working in Westminster catering team for two months She was allegedly allowed to roam free, despite rules for her to be escorted Incident will raise serious questions about parliament's security system
An illegal immigrant has been arrested after allegedly using a forged passport to get a job at the House of Commons. The woman, believed to be from Sierra Leone, had been working in the Palace of Westminster for two months as a casual member of the catering team when the discovery was made. The employee, who had been supplied by an external recruitment agency, was arrested on Friday over the alleged security breach. According to The Times, the woman was required to be escorted around Parliament at all times, due to the fact she was a casual employee. But there were reports that she was allowed to roam free by allegedly using a pass owned by another member of staff. The woman's role in catering would have given her access to senior ministers and MPs.
It is believed the agency was responsible for carrying out the background checks on the employee.
A
spokesman for the Commons confirmed the arrest, saying: 'A worker for
an agency contracted by the House of Commons was arrested by the
Metropolitan Police on Friday, January 2.
'We cannot comment on ongoing police investigations.'
The woman was arrested on Friday after it was discovered that her passport was forged (file picture)
The incident will raise serious questions about parliament's security system.
Keith
Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, said there needed
to be a proper inquiry about how it happened, while Mark Field, a Tory
member of the intelligence and security committee, said it was a 'pretty
depressing' discovery.
The
case has echoes of another security blunder in 2008, when a Brazilian
woman Elaine Chaves Aparecida, who had been hired as a cleaner, was
arrested after trying to enter parliament using another person's
security pass.
In
a separate incident in 2010, a Nigerian woman was found to have worked
for six months in the House of Lords catering team while living
illegally in Britain.
Last
February, one of Theresa May's ministers Mark Harper resigned after
discovering his Colombian cleaner did not have permission to work in the
UK.
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