Amber Rudd ‘bitterly’ and ‘deeply’ regrets failing to grasp scale of Windrush scandal sooner

Pressed on whether any individuals have been deported as a result of the Windrush scandal, the home secretary added: 'The answer to that is not as far as we can see at the moment'

Amber Rudd has been under mounting pressure in recent days over the Windrush scandal (Getty)

Amber Rudd has admitted that she “bitterly” regrets failing to grasp the scale of the Windrush scandal sooner and for not viewing it as a “systemic issue” until recently, as she was grilled by MPs.

The home secretary’s frank remarks came as she faced mounting calls to resign over her department’s handling of the problems faced by members of the Windrush generation in recent years.

Appearing in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee in the Commons, Ms Rudd added that she had only become aware that there was a “potential issue” over the “past few months”.

But she confessed: “I bitterly, deeply regret that I didn’t see it as more than individual cases that had gone wrong that needed addressing. I didn’t see it as a systemic issue until very recently.”

Ms Rudd said the government would also need to introduce legislation in the Commons so that the Home Office can waive citizenship fees for the entire Windrush generation. As it stands, the department is waiving fees on a “discretionary basis”, she said.

Sitting alongside the home secretary, Glynn Williams, a senior civil servant in the department, who is in charge of immigration, added that since the hotline was set up last week, 3,800 calls have been made and 1,364 have been identified as potential Windrush individuals.

He said that 91 appointments have been made so far and 23 cases had been resolved with documentation issued.

Pressed on whether any individuals have been deported as a result of the Windrush scandal, Ms Rudd added: “The answer to that is not as far as we can see at the moment.”

She told the committee that 7,000 out of 8,000 records dating back to 2002 had been checked so far, with no cases of wrongful removal discovered to date.

Ms Rudd also denied that the Conservative’s contentious target to bring net migration to the tens of thousands had fuelled the problems facing the Windrush generation.

“I don’t think that’s got anything to do with it,” she said. “It’s wrong to think the net migration target is the problem here. The problem here is that people were not properly documented.

Asked whether she had asked Theresa May to remove the target, Ms Rudd said: “I have not discussed that with the Prime Minister.”

Pressed again on the issue, she said: “I have private conversations with the Prime Minister which will stay private.”

Ms Rudd’s appearance at the committee, chaired by the senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper, comes after a week of stories flooding in regarding members of the Windrush era being threatened with deportation, having their benefits suspended, denied access to the NHS and losing their jobs due to a lack of official documentation.

The scandal has led to both the home secretary and Theresa May personally apologising and with the Prime Minister promising a compensation scheme for those affected.

But at the weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Ms May vowed her “hostile environment” to tackle illegal immigration will continue, despite the Windrush scandal.

Under fierce criticism in the Commons, the prime minister refused to review the harsh rules she introduced or explain why warnings that it would trap people who arrived in Britain legally decades ago were ignored.

The Labour leader said Ms Rudd had “inherited a failing policy and made it worse”, adding: “Isn’t it time she took responsibility and resigned?”