THE UK Government is to make compensation payments to members of the Windrush generation who suffered as a result of official challenges to their migration status, the Prime Minister announced last night.
Downing Street declined to give details of the compensation scheme, saying they would be announced “shortly”. It is thought likely payments will go beyond payomg legal bills and include recognition of the anxiety caused to long-standing Commonwealth residents of the UK whose right to be in the country was questioned.
The announcement came as details emerged of two Windrush women who were denied re-entry to the UK after travelling to the Caribbean. Gretel Gocan, 81, said she had been stuck in Jamaica since 2010 unable to return to her south London home after a holiday to visit family.
Former NHS nurse Icilda Williams, who moved back to Jamaica in 1996 after 34 years in Bradford, said her annual visits to the UK to see her children had been halted since 2014 after she was denied a visa. The Home Office said it would be looking into the cases as a matter of urgency.
Hundreds of people gathered to show their solidarity with the Windrush generation yesterday at Windrush Square in Brixton, south London, last night.
The square was renamed after the Empire Windrush ship, which carried settlers from Jamaica to England in 1948.
Some demonstrators held placards reading “Solidarity with the Windrush generation” and “Windrush generation: Here to stay”. The crowd chanted: “Say it loud, say it clear. Here to stay, here to fight.”
Theresa May confirmed plans for compensation at a press conference at the end of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in London which has been overshadowed by controversy over the treatment of Caribbean nationals who arrived in the UK between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
She said: “I met with Caribbean leaders, where I gave an absolute commitment that the UK Government will do whatever it takes – including where appropriate payment of compensation – to resolve the ... problems which some of the Windrush generation have suffered. These people are British, they are part of us, they helped to build Britain and we are all the stronger for their contributions.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded an apology from May for the policy she introduced as Home Secretary of creating a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants by requiring individuals to prove their right to be in the UK before receiving services.
“She’s the one that created that nasty atmosphere.” said Corbyn. “She wanted to create this hostile atmosphere towards immigrants in this country. I think it’s time she apologised for that as well .”
Gocan’s daughter Pauline Blackwood said her mother had been stranded in Jamaica with no money and no pension. The 81-year-old came to the UK in 1960 and never applied for a British passport, but had a stamp in her Jamaican passport granting her indefinite leave to remain.
“My main fear is we’re going to lose our mum,” said Blackwood.”She has no money, all her pension’s been stopped and her medication too - she has diabetes.”
Williams held a British Commonwealth passport until 1967. After being denied a visitor’s visa to come to Britain in 2014, she applied for a UK passport but was turned down after the authorities could find no record of her old Commonwealth passport.
So far 286 people have contacted a Home Office helpline set up to offer support for Windrush generation members with concerns about migration status. Eight have been given permanent residence status.
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