UK sued after refusal to accept all 'Windrush' scandal reforms

Britain's government Thursday faced legal action by campaigners over its refusal to accept key recommendations by an inquiry into the "Windrush" scandal, which affected thousands of black post-war immigrants.

Interior minister Suella Braverman, a virulent critic of "woke" politics, in January refused to accept three of the changes previously promised by the Conservative government.

The group Black Equity Organization, created last year to campaign for the civil rights of black Britons, said it was seeking a judicial review of the home secretary's decision.

"The Home Office must be opened up to independent scrutiny and forced to honor the promises made in its name," the group's chief executive Wanda Wyporska said in a statement.

"Windrush survivors have been through enough and this latest twist in a shameful story adds insult to injury," she said.

The group was later Thursday to present a petition with some 50,000 signatories to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's offices at 10 Downing Street, including black British stars from sports and acting.

The MV Empire Windrush ship was one of the vessels that brought workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean islands to help fill UK labor shortages after World War II.

Five years ago, campaigners revealed that thousands of the legitimate British citizens had been wrongly detained or deported under the Conservative government's hardline immigration policies.

Many lost homes and jobs, and were denied access to healthcare and benefits. Some died before their names could be cleared.

The subsequent independent inquiry issued 30 recommendations, which Braverman's predecessor agreed to adopt in full. 

But Braverman rejected more powers for Britain's independent chief inspector of borders, a commissioner to safeguard migrants' interests and the holding of reconciliation events.

There was no immediate comment from her ministry to the legal action.

At the unveiling last June of a commemorative statue in London's Waterloo station, Prince William said: "Every part of British life is better for the half a million men and women of the Windrush generation."

 

AFP