Have we learned nothing from the Windrush scandal?

More often than not, these victims have been treated as criminals, not people deserving of restitution

That this is happening on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Windrush migration is cruel and ironic (PA Archive)

Have ministers not learned anything from the Windrush scandal? It was, we now know, a travesty which left thousands of predominantly Black people wrongly stripped of their rights to live and work in the UK – yet the UK government is rowing back on commitments it made three years ago.

As The Independent reported recently, the Windrush compensation scheme has been deemed “not fit for purpose”. It has been found to be fraught with delays, rejected applications and requests for unreasonable pieces of evidence and empathy. Campaigners and lawyers have even called for the scheme to be removed from the Home Office’s remit altogether. I am not surprised. The irony that the department responsible for the scandal in the first place should also oversee the reparations isn’t lost.

Recent figures show rejections for payouts have soared under the scheme, while offers have plunged. It doesn’t seem a stretch too far to say that the general impression this gives is of a government waiting for an ageing cohort to die, rather than adequately compensating them for it.

In a written statement in the House of Commons today, home secretary Suella Braverman said she would not be establishing a migrants’ commissioner – a recommendation made following a scathing review by Wendy Williams, HM Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, into how the scandal unfolded at the Home Office. Such a commissioner would have been responsible for speaking up for migrants and identifying systemic problems within the UK immigration system.

Other accepted recommendations, including increasing the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI) and holding reconciliation events with the Windrush community, will not happen. This is a U-turn on her predecessor Priti Patel’s promise to introduce all 30 of the recommendations made by Williams in 2020. In her Windrush Lessons Learned review, Williams outlined key measures the department needed to take to avoid any repeat of the scandal the to avoid it happening again.

In my view, it serves as further proof, if any needed it, of the blatant contempt that this government has for migrants and, in particular, Black people.

I have previously reported that applicants were being told they must prove their case “beyond reasonable doubt” before receiving payments; language typically reserved for criminal defendants in a court of law. More often than not, these victims have been treated as criminals, not people deserving of restitution.

Just months ago, a bombshell Home Office leaked report confirmed that the Windrush scandal was caused by decades of racist immigration law that was designed to reduce the number of non-white people living in the UK. The legacy of these policies is evident today, regardless of the government’s ongoing denial of institutional racism in this country.

Despite the shiny new, government-sponsored Windrush monument at Waterloo station (which was bizarre and insulting given its denial of compensation to thousands of applicants), the scandal is far from over. The realities faced by those at the sharp end of these injustices are painful and enduring; Braverman’s U-turn is another reminder of that.

That this is happening on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Windrush migration is cruel and ironic, as the king plans to unveil commemorative Windrush portraits and the Royal Mint celebrates the Windrush generation in new commemorative coins for 2023. This is happening when plenty of compensation claimants don’t have two coins to rub together.

The government’s treatment of the Windrush generation is a stain on this country of which we should all be deeply ashamed. Justice delayed is justice denied.