I knew of Windrush problems for months
Rudd admits she was aware of individual cases ‘gone wrong’
AMBER Rudd yesterday told MPs of her ‘bitter regret’ at failing to grasp the scale of the Windrush scandal sooner, as she admitted having been aware of the issue for ‘months’.
Just hours after Jeremy Corbyn called on her to resign, the Home Secretary appeared before a select committee to face a grilling over her response to the crisis.
Miss Rudd said she had become aware there was a ‘potential issue’ over the status of Windrush immigrants over the ‘past few months’, adding: ‘I bitterly, deeply regret that I didn’t see it as more than individual cases that had gone wrong … I didn’t see it as a systemic issue until very recently.’
During the bruising session, Miss Rudd revealed she did not know if any Windrush immigrants had been detained. She was also forced to deny claims Home Office officials had been given regional deportation targets. Miss Rudd and Theresa May have come under intense pressure after it emerged residents who arrived from the Commonwealth from the late 1940s to the early 1970s were having their immigration status challenged after the Home Office failed to keep a record of those allowed to stay.
People who have legally lived in the UK for decades have lost their homes, jobs or rights to NHS treatment, while some have been locked up in detention centres or threatened with deportation.
The scale of the scandal emerged for the first time yesterday, as MPs were told a helpline set up last week has received more than 1,300 calls about potential Windrush cases. So far 600 have been called back, with 91 appointments made and 23 sets of identity documents handed out. But Miss Rudd admitted she does not know if any Windrush immigrants have been detained because of the scandal. She said that as far as she is ‘aware’ no one has been deported – but there are still 1,000 cases to trawl through to confirm this.
Asked when she first knew of the Windrush problems, Miss Rudd said: ‘I became aware over the past few months … that there was a problem of individuals.
‘This was covered by newspapers, and MPs bringing it forward anecdotally over the past three or four months, and I became aware that there was a potential issue.’
Emphasising those affected were here legally, Miss Rudd insisted there is ‘nothing wrong’ in trying to remove people here unlawfully, and acknowledged she had asked for more removals of such individuals. She also rejected suggestions the Tories’ target to bring net migration below 100,000 had fuelled the saga. Lucy Moreton, general secretary of the Immigration Service Union, had earlier told the committee that officials in each English region had separate targets for the number of deportations.
She claimed the national target was about 8,000 a year – and said the net removal targets appeared on office posters. But Miss Rudd said she was ‘not aware’ of any targets, saying she had not heard
‘Didn’t see it as systemic’
the evidence put forward by Miss Moreton. Glynn Williams, Home Office director general for border, immigration and citizenship, said: ‘I don’t think they exist. There are no published removal targets.’
Demanding clarity on the issue, home affairs select committee chairman Yvette Cooper said it looked like Miss Rudd may have a ‘lack of grip’ on the system.
Earlier in the Commons, Mr Corbyn said Miss Rudd ‘inherited a failing policy and made it worse’, adding: ‘Is it not time she took responsibility and resigned?’
Last night it emerged the Home Office and No 10 were told about problems faced by the Windrush generation in 2016. They were alerted after the Barbados government raised concerns with the Foreign Office. At the time, David Cameron was prime minister, Mrs May home secretary and Philip Hammond foreign secretary.
The BBC reported that in April 2016, Mr Hammond was told by Caribbean ministers about immigrants facing deportation. It is believed a report was passed to the Home Office. It is not clear at what level the concerns were raised.