Windrush Lessons Learned Review

Kenny MacAskill Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) for her thoughtful comment. I emphasise and echo the work that she has done, but acknowledge her apology as well. She is absolutely right about the role of the race disparity audit. There is much that we can all take from this review. We should all as individuals be more conscious and aware not just of how we engage people, but of how we reach an understanding of communities and cultures, to help us all and to inform decision making and policies across Government in the future.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (SNP)]

This is a welcome statement and a welcome start, but it is only a start. The old maxim applies: legislate in haste, repent at leisure. The tragedy is that the price paid by some is significant and the actions of Government have been shameful, so an apology is both right and overdue. I recall as Justice Secretary of Scotland meeting a gentleman in his late 40s or 50s who, as a babe in arms, had left Scotland and gone to Australia. All his family and friends were in Australia. He had fallen from grace, developed an alcohol problem, committed a crime and been deported. I said then that the actions of the Government of Australia were shameful, and I repeat now that I believe the behaviour and actions of the UK Government are equally shameful when they replicate that. That gentleman was Australian, despite the passport he carried.

Will the Home Secretary ensure that those members of the Windrush generation who have been deported and who possess a different passport from the one that we in this Chamber have, but who are UK citizens the same as we are, are allowed to return? Will she also ensure that offenders from abroad who must be deported are rightly sent home, but that who possess a passport from Jamaica, Nigeria or wherever else, who have grown up in this country and are UK citizens, should be entitled to those rights?

Equally, although I believe the commitment to implement the recommendations is wholehearted and sincere, it is more than just a matter of living up to the recommendations; it must reflect the spirit of Wendy Williams’ report. I ask that the Government take on board those two points.

[Priti Patel]

I would like to make a number of points in response to the hon. Gentleman’s comments. First, he has already spoken to me about reviewing the recommendations, but I opened my statement by saying that I was deeply moved by reading the report, and I suggest that he too gives it some consideration and looks at the many recommendations made. In particular, I referenced the fact that we still have work to do in reaching members of the community, and I called for other individuals who feel that they have been affected to come forward, so that we can secure their status and provide the compensation that may be due to them.

There is something more fundamental, though. No amount of compensation or any process now can resolve the injustices that have happened. My focus right now is fundamentally not only to ensure that the recommendations are reviewed and undertaken, but to work with colleagues and Wendy Williams to ensure that we do this in the right way to bring about the change that we all want to see.