HMT “Empire Windrush”: 80th Anniversary
Lord Morse Excerpts(2 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
The noble Lord is quite right to say that the important thing in all this is that we recognise the contribution of both the Windrush generation and the second generation in designing whatever the legacy of Windrush 80 is going to be. As he rightly suggests, that should include young people who are the descendants of the Windrush generation. I hope that significant work will be done with the steering committee to make sure that that happens and that it is the community that designs the lasting legacy.
Lord Morse (CB)
My Lords, I am very much in favour of these positive remarks, but please remember why we are making them and why we are having this discussion. In my time at the National Audit Office, we examined the treatment that many of the Windrush generation had, which cannot be described as anything but disgraceful, and we cannot forget that. We treated those people whom we asked to come to live in our country disgracefully, and we have taken a very long time, in my view, to put that even vaguely right.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
The noble Lord is quite right to highlight that issue. There has been a focus on the fact that, while we cannot take away the hurt and harm that was done, we can do our best to recognise the contribution made by the Windrush generation and deal with the issues outstanding from the hurts caused to them. I thought that it was very interesting, when I was reading up on this, to read the poem included on the Windrush memorial at Waterloo station. The last few lines of it are:
“Remember … you called.
YOU. Called.
Remember, it was us, who came”.
I think we all have to remember that.
Holocaust Memorial Day
Lord Morse Excerpts(3 months ago)
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Lord Morse (CB)
I am very honoured to follow that excellent speech; and I take the chance to acknowledge the very brilliant maiden speech that we heard earlier as well.
I am intending to speak quite briefly on this subject, because it has been very fully covered already, and I am sure nobody will mind that. First, I should declare an interest. I am a member of the APPG on British Jews, although I am not Jewish. I believe that it is really important for all British citizens to show their support for each other in the face of antisemitism.
This needs to be offered with humility and a sense of how little—certainly for me—we know. I have not experienced the emotions that my Jewish friends have experienced or the loss that they have experienced. I have read about the Holocaust. I understand it to that extent, but I do not have the deep empathy that so many noble Lords in this Room have.
What I do have is a feeling of absolute fury when I think about children not being able to go to their schools, or going in while concealing their identity; or schools having to look like fortified camps because of fear that something may happen to the children or that they may be attacked; or indeed, Jewish friends I know who are beginning to have discussions about whether this is much of a country to live in any more and whether it is a safe country for Jewish people to live in. I was absolutely horrified to hear some of those discussions, but this is where it seems to be going.
Our country—my country—is surely much better than this. Our Jewish people and fellow citizens, who have contributed so much to this country and who continue to do so, are entitled to expect much better of the whole country and to expect our vigorous and committed support.
Religious hate crime, I am afraid, is growing significantly. We might try to believe otherwise, but it is not true. It is directed not just at Jewish people—a significant number of hate crimes are directed at the Muslim community as well, and it is important to remember that—but when you come down to the intensity of number of hate crimes per 10,000 people, the Jewish population suffers three or four times more than the Muslim community. So, although others do suffer from hate crimes, it is the Jewish community that is the most heavily struck.
When HM Government take a clear stance against hate crime and antisemitism, we have to acknowledge that, but, equally, we have to say when it is not working very well.
Antisemitism is advancing, and our Jewish fellow citizens feel that they are subject to pervasive threat and that their life, in many cases, is being made miserable as a result of these threats and antisemitism. Notwithstanding what HM Government are already doing, I believe they could and should go much further and start by setting hard, measurable targets to reduce and stamp out hate crime by specific target dates, and be willing to be held to account against them. What is measured generally gets done; that is my experience in life.
Even in this very serious matter, I think we need to be tough with ourselves—not sanctimonious, but tough—about what can be done. The best tribute we can offer, in my mind, to the horrors of the Holocaust is to act vigorously now, to fight against antisemitism and to keep on fighting until we win.