Windrush activists are calling on the next government to grant citizenship to all victims of the immigration scandal within the first 100 days after the elections.
Campaigners, including Action for Racial Equality (ARE), have warned that the current compensation and documentation scheme is “burdensome” and in desperate need of reform.
It comes as Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said justice for the Windrush community “has been a long time coming” as he promised a “fundamental reset” for the Windrush generation.
Sir Keir said the Windrush generation, who arrived 76 years ago at HMT Empire Windrush in Tilbury, Essex, represented the “best of Britain”, as his party promised sweeping reforms, including the appointment of a Windrush Commissioner, to help them.
The Windrush scandal refers to migrants from the Caribbean who began arriving in 1948 to help rebuild Britain after the war.
They were given the right to live and work permanently in Britain, but many were later mistakenly considered to be illegal immigrants.
Many people who arrived from the Caribbean on HMT Empire Windrush lost their jobs and homes in the UK. Photo: AP
As a result of the scandal, a Windrush Documentation Scheme was created in 2018 so that those affected could recover their documents and demonstrate their right to citizenship.
The Home Office estimates that more than 16,800 people have received their documents through the scheme.
However, ARE claims that a third of people who have received documents are from EU countries and claims that more than 57,000 people affected by the Windrush scandal may still be eligible.
The charity also criticized the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which the Home Office says paid out £85.86m across 2,382 claims in March.
Jeremy Crook OBE, chief executive, Action for Racial Equality
But Jeremy Crook OBE, chief executive of ARE, believes almost 4,000 claims were rejected and says this is likely because the 44-page application is “very bureaucratic” and “onerous”.
“Our manifesto calls for legal aid to be implemented by the next government,” says Crook.
‘A Fundamental Reset’
Labor has said that, if elected, it will fast-track initial compensation claims, speed up payments and implement the recommendations that Wendy Williams made in her independent Windrush lessons learned review.
Sir Keir said: “The Windrush generation embodies the best of Britain: determination, spirit, public service and graft.
“But instead of being thanked, they were mistreated.
“A Labor government will offer a fundamental reset moment for the Windrush generation, with respect and dignity at its core.”
He promised “urgent reform” of the compensation system and returning the Windrush Unit to the Home Office, along with the appointment of a Windrush Commissioner to be “the voice of affected families”.
He added: “Justice has been a long time coming for the Windrush community.
“A government that I lead will not let this happen again. Where the Tories have hesitated, I am determined to get money out to compensate those who have been failed by the State.”
‘I still think they will come after me’
Shane Smith spent almost his entire life in the UK before being told he had no right to be in the country
Shane Smith, 44, was born in Trinidad and Tobago but was brought to the UK by his British mother when he was just four months old.
He was at work, in his early thirties, when he was told he had no right to remain in the only place he knew as home.
“I was dragged into the office and they said, you have an immigration problem,” says Smith.
“I said, ‘Can’t you hear my voice? I’m a snob!’ That’s when everything fell apart.”
He lost his job as a result of the scandal and it took years to obtain the necessary documents to obtain the citizenship to which he was already entitled.
Smith became homeless due to job insecurity and, years later, still struggles with mental health issues.
“I felt alone, I couldn’t support my family anymore… I’m embarrassed, because I’m a proud man and before this I thought I was very, very strong,” says Mr Smith.
“I still think they’ll come after me.”
Although he may be entitled to compensation, Mr Smith has not yet applied for the scheme as he believes the process does not consider the complex lives created by the scandal.
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“I have to go through a dossier and provide all these things, when half the time I was homeless,” he says.
He says that when he received the compensation booklet he was unable to deal with the paperwork.
“I just threw it in the trash.”
Smith also says that even if he found the mental strength to fill it, he’s not sure he could accept the money on principle.
“If I accept it, it’s like saying what you did to me is okay and you’re okay doing it to anyone else,” he says.
It is this “lack of faith” in the government’s ability to right the wrongs of the scandal that inspired ARE, which also calls on the new government to establish a Windrush compact for mental health.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
