A major report into the Windrush Scandal that says Black people suffered from racist immigration policies has been finally published after years of Tory delay.
It concluded that significant immigration legislation in the 1960s and 1970s was designed to reduce the amount of people living in the UK who did not have white skin. And it found Black communities had “fundamentally different” experiences of the Home Office, the law and life in the UK compared to white communities. The investigation, which dug into the historical roots of the scandal, looked at how the existence of the British Empire enabled racism against Black people to continue after slavery was abolished.
The 52-page report, written by an unnamed Home Office-commissioned, concluded that the British Empire “depended on racist ideology in order to function”. Legislation “aimed at keeping racial and ethnic groups apart” was produced across countries within the empire which made its way back to the British mainland by the end of the 1800s.
(
Getty Images)
The Tory government attempted to bury the report for three years. It was leaked in 2022. The Home Office rejected multiple freedom of information requests as they said the release of the report might damage “trust in government” among affected communities.
But a tribunal judge threw out the department’s argument after campaigner James Coombs appealed an initially rejected request to release the information. Judge Chris Hughes ordered the Home Office to publish the report, quoting author George Orwell’s views on how the Government attempts to control information in his ruling.
In 2018 the Government apologised for the Windrush Scandal, which saw Black Britons from the Caribbean, who had been invited to the UK after the war, wrongly accused of being here illegally and were either threatened with or were actually deported. Many lost their jobs and homes and were unable to access public services.
Diane Abbott MP, who attempted to have the report released through the home affairs select committee in 2022, told the Guardian: “It is a disgrace that the Home Office tried not to release this report. They could have released it at any time and shouldn’t have waited for a campaigner to go to court. It is as if they are trying to bury the whole history of immigration.”
Minister for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra said: “The Windrush scandal shamed our country – the country the Windrush generation helped rebuild after the Second World War, and in which they made their home and grew their families.
“The Home Secretary and I agree with the court’s decision, but we are going further because it is in the public interest to do so. We have published the report online. While everyone will have their own views on the issues and judgements included in the report, it is a substantial piece of work that should support discussion on an important part of British history.”