PAYOUTS FOR VICTIMS OF FIASCO

MEMBERS of the Windrush generation wrongly embroiled in the immigration crackdown will be compensated, Theresa May has promised.

Payments, which amount to tens of thousands of pounds, will be made to Commonwealth citizens mistakenly identified as being in the UK illegally, the Prime Minister said yesterday.

She had already been forced to apologise for the scandal, blamed on tough immigration rules she introduced as Home Secretary in 2014.

Closing the Commonwealth summit yesterday, she said: ‘I gave an absolute commitment that the United Kingdom government would do whatever it takes – including, where appropriate, payment of compensation – to resolve the anxiety and problems which some of the Windrush generation have suffered.’

Downing Street said the payments would go beyond ‘reimbursement of any legal fees’. Further details will be announced next week.

Keith Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, said it had to be a ‘substantial sum’, adding: ‘There are people who have lost a lot.’

It came as Home Secretary Amber Rudd issued a defence of the Government’s crackdown on illegal immigration. A Home Office spokesman said last night: ‘It is clearly essential we continue to take action against people who are here illegally.’ They stressed that the Windrush generation were here lawfully.