The ‘Windrush Lessons Learned Review', authored by Wendy Williams, an inspector of constabulary, was published this week. The 275-page report concluded that what happened was ‘foreseeable and avoidable’.
Williams found the causes of the scandal could be ‘traced back through successive rounds of policy and legislation about immigration and nationality from the 1960s onwards, the aim of which was to restrict the eligibility of certain groups to live in the UK’. While the Immigration Act 1971 confirmed that the Windrush generation has the right of abode in the UK, ‘they were not given any documents to demonstrate this status. Nor were records kept’. Successive governments sought to act tough on immigration, ‘passing laws creating, then expanding the hostile environment, this was done with a complete disregard for the Windrush generation’.
Williams said Home Office officials and ministers ignored warning signs, even after news of the scandal broke in the media in 2017. Various ‘organisational factors’ created the environment for mistakes, ‘including a culture of disbelief and carelessness when dealing with applications’. She makes 30 recommendations for change, including that the Home Office ‘acknowledge the wrong which has been done… open itself up to greater external scrutiny; and… change its culture to recognise that migration and wider Home Office policy is about people and, whatever its objective, should be rooted in humanity’.
The Home Office wrongly designated thousands of legal UK residents, many of whom moved to the UK with their parents during the 1950s and 1960s, as being in the country illegally. Some were wrongly deported, while others lost their jobs, were denied benefits, made homeless, prevented from travelling and refused NHS care.
Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigned over the scandal in April 2018.
The Windrush generation is defined as those who came to Britain between 1948 and 1973, on the invitation of the British government to help the country rebuild after the Second World War. The Empire Windrush docked with the first immigrants from the Caribbean.
Marcia Longdon, immigration partner at Kingsley Napley, said: ‘Windrush was the biggest catastrophe in UK immigration history and it is important to learn the lessons from this debacle.
‘To ensure we don’t repeat this mistake, it is imperative the government act on the report’s recommendations, particularly now many EU citizens are awaiting an outcome from the Home Office with regards to their right to remain under the EU settlement scheme.
‘An apology from the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, does little to right the wrongs of the Home Office. The compensation scheme set up last year has been slow to reach victims, many of whom are still struggling to rebuild their lives. I urge the Home Secretary to review the current laws that continue to create the hostile environment, as a matter of priority.’
Giving an official apology in the House of Commons this week, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘On behalf of this and successive governments I am truly sorry.’
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