THE SNP have urged the UK Government to compensate Windrush victims for the "outrageous treatment" they have faced.
SNP MP Anne McLaughlin urged Westminster to implement the recommendations of the Windrush report, investing in the Compensation Scheme and making legal aid available for claimants and other cases.
The scandal erupted in 2018 when British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation, despite having the right to live in Britain.
Many lost homes and jobs and were denied access to healthcare and benefits.
Two years on since the Windrush Compensation scheme began, responses to parliamentary questions show that more than 500 claimants have been waiting more than a year for a decision and 21 people have died while waiting for a response. So far, only 633 people have received compensation from the UK Government out of an original estimate of 15,000.
Speaking at today's Windrush Day debate, McLaughlin said: “The Windrush scandal is one of the most disgraceful episodes in modern British politics and is directly linked to the UK Government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy – but UK ministers absolutely refuse to learn from it.
“We saw this through the very fact that they refused to scrap the arbitrary Settled Status deadline, which risks a repeat of Windrush by potentially stripping hundreds of thousands of their rights. The Tories have repeatedly shown they cannot be trusted with the wellbeing of the vital migrants who have helped prop up our NHS and society for years, as well as during the pandemic."
READ MORE: Last-ditch appeal to force Tory U-turn on 'cliff edge' for EU citizens
A recent NAO report also noted that the Home Office had only spent £8.1 million of the £15.8m budget allocated between April 2019 and March 2021 to run the Windrush Compensation scheme, with the process of making decisions on cases taking about 154 staff hours, rather than the estimated 30.
McLaughlin went on: “Instead of trying to do all it can to make up for the scandal that affected so many lives, the Home Office is dragging its feet on compensating the victims and doubling down on its hostile environment, which is discriminatory to the core, as well as repeatedly ignoring the SNP’s calls to follow Scotland’s lead and reinstate legal aid for immigration cases in England – including for Windrush victims.
"If the Home Office is unable to deliver compensation to victims within an acceptable time frame then the scheme should be independently run, which is what should have happened from the start. It is outrageous that the department tasked with the compensation scheme is the very department that caused the mess in the first place, and will most likely have impacted people's confidence in the scheme.
“Windrush victims deserve to be justly compensated for the outrageous treatment by the Tory government – and they deserve that compensation in a timely manner, not years after.”
Labour MP Abena Oppong-Asare told the Commons: “The compensation scheme should be removed from the Home Office and managed by an independent, non-government agency to provide trust, respect and confidence to the victims and their families.”
She added that the Government should include a “full apology letter” with every compensation award.
READ MORE: The shocking stories behind the Windrush scandal report
Minsters have also been urged to support efforts to recover a ship’s anchor to create a Windrush monument.
The Empire Windrush carried one of the first large groups of West Indian immigrants from Jamaica to the UK after the Second World War.
They were among tens of thousands of people – known as the Windrush generation – to arrive from 1948 to help rebuild post-war Britain.
Labour MP Helen Hayes said: “I want to ask if the Government will support the campaign to raise the anchor from the Empire Windrush, which currently lies off the coast of Libya on the Mediterranean seabed so that it can be displayed as part of the 75th Windrush anniversary celebrations in 2023.
“A tangible piece of that famous ship which can be used to tell the story of the remarkable Windrush generation for years to come.”
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