SNP MP Drew Hendry tore into David Mundell at Scotland Questions over the case of a Scottish soldier whose visa paperwork for his daughter was lost by the Home Office.
Hendry raised the latest development in Denis Omondi's shocking case, reported exclusively in The National, in the Commons.
The SNP MP asked the Scotland Secretary: "What assessment he has made of the potential effect of provisions in the Immigration Bill on Scotland?"
Mundell replied: "The immigration and social security co-ordination EU Withdrawal Bill will help us deliver the new single skills-based immigration system we want, one that maximises the benefits of immigration and demonstrates that Scotland and the UK are open to business."
Omondi, a lance-corporal with the Black Watch, 3 Scots, based at Fort George, enlisted the help of SNP member Hendry when he was refused a visa for his 14-year-old daughter Anne, who was previously living with her mother in Kenya.
Hendry phoned the Home Secretary’s office earlier this week, and was eventually passed to their internal immigration team, who couldn’t find their own correspondence with their own reference number.
Hendry was then asked to mail a generic email address.
Pressing Mundell in the Commons, Hendry hit back: "I've heard his answer, but what faith can the people of Scotland have in the new Immigration Bill or his government when even after having raised it with the Prime Minister with a promised intervention by the Home Secretary, the Home Secretary's office tell me yesterday they've lost the file on David Omondi, the serving British soldier who is being denied a via for his young daughter.
"Will the Scottish Secretary now get personally involved in this travesty?"
Yet another Home Office blunder - Despite assurances from the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to review the case, the Home Office have misplaced the file of my constituent Denis Omondi, a serving soldier, whose daughter has been denied a visa. pic.twitter.com/4s60dx05UV
— Drew Hendry MP (@drewhendrySNP) February 20, 2019
Mundell replied: "I'm very disappointed to hear what the Honourable Member has had to say, and yes, of course I will."
Henry previously told The National: “The original decision to keep Ann and her father Denis apart is a disgrace in itself, but the ongoing delays with the review are adding yet more stress for the family. As a soldier who has put his own life on the line in the British Army, Denis deserves to have his daughter with him and its high time common sense prevailed.
“There is already widespread public support for this family’s plight and the motion I raised in Parliament has gained cross-party support.
“I have now written, again, to the minister to demand answers as to why this family is being treated so badly and to urge him to speed up this process to see justice done.”
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