World champion boxer’s father caught up in Windrush scandal
THE dad of former world champion boxer Steve Robinson has been affected by the Windrush scandal, an MP revealed to the Commons.
Cardiff North MP Anna McMorrin said that 85-year-old Stanford was “one of the oldest and one of the longest residents in the UK caught up in the fiasco”.
His son Steve is best known for working as a Debenhams storeman in Cardiff, then with just two days’ notice, he accepted the fight against John Davison in 1993 for the vacant WBO Featherweight title and won the contest on a points decision.
But, despite living in the UK for more than 60 years, Stanford’s citizenship was questioned when he applied for a passport last year.
He was told that his British citizenship had been relinquished without his knowledge after Jamaica was granted independence.
Ms McMorrin told the Commons that Stanford had been living in the UK since emigrating from Jamaica as a young man in the 1950s.
She said: “He had been working and paying taxes his whole life here and making a valuable contribution.
“He is proud that his son became a world champion boxer from working as a storeman in Cardiff and with just two days’ notice accepted a fight for world featherweight championship and won.
“Having never needed a passport since he lost his many decades ago along with his naturalisation documents, when Mr Robinson tried to apply for a new passport so he could attend a wedding in Jamaica last year he was sent a letter saying there was no record of him and he needed to reapply for naturalisation and pay the fees, which he did.
“Then the Home Office told him he wasn’t automatically entitled to citizenship.
“In the final letter he was told that because he had failed to register his British citizenship upon Jamaica’s independence he had been relinquished of his British nationality in place of a Jamaican one without his knowledge.
“At 85, having been in this country for over 63 years Mr Robinson is one of the oldest and one of the longest UK residents caught up in this fiasco.”
Stanford told BBC Wales: “I stayed in the Passport Office in Newport all day. They said they found a record but afterwards they said they hadn’t.
“I feel terrible about that – I am not dreaming I had a passport.”
Theresa May has apologised for the anxiety suffered by the children of Commonwealth citizens who were threatened by the Home Office with deportation.
There has been alarm at reports of how people who were granted leave to remain in the UK but lacked paperwork have struggled to prove they are not here illegally.
Named after the ship The Empire Windrush which brought workers to Britain from the West Indies in 1948 – many came here to make a contribution to the UK.