Windrush cases double in a week to 3,000 as callers flood hotline

THERE are now 3,000 likely victims of the Windrush scandal and the number will rise further, Sajid Javid said yesterday.

The figure has more than doubled in a week and a hotline set up to deal with cases has received more than 7,000 calls.

Mr Javid, the newly-appointed Home Secretary, yesterday updated MPs on the work of the taskforce set up to help the Windrush citizens – who arrived in the UK from the Commonwealth between the 1940s and 1970s – wrongly being threatened with removal from Britain.

He told the Commons that each person calling the hotline who is identified as potentially from the Windrush generation is called back by ‘an experienced and sympathetic caseworker, who then helps them through the process’.

Theresa May pledged that a review of the scandal would have ‘full access’ to official papers and Home Office information and promised a ‘package of measures to bring transparency on the issue’.

Labour yesterday lost a vote seeking to force the Government to hand over all correspondence between ministers and officials as part of the Windrush investigation. It was seen as an attempt to find dirt on Mrs May from the time when she was home secretary.