Immigration rules ‘like Nazis’ – Lord
MINISTERS have rejected comparisons of Theresa May’s “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants to the policies of Nazi Germany amid deepening anger at the Government’s treatment of the so-called Windrush generation.
Former head of the Civil Service Lord Kerslake has said some ministers in the former coalition were so unhappy with the changes brought in by Mrs May when she was home secretary they spoke of them in the same terms as the Nazis.
The claim came after Labour said the tightening of immigration rules in 2014 was directly responsible for Commonwealth citizens who came to Britain in the decades following the Second World War being wrongly threatened with deportation.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who was a minister in the coalition, flatly rejected the comparison with Nazi Germany.
He said: “I have never heard anyone make that comparison before Lord Kerslake did. It is not for me to criticise a distinguished former public servant like Lord Kerslake, but I respectfully disagree.”
In an interview with BBC2’s Newsnight on Wednesday, Lord Kerslake said the 2014 Immigration Act had been a “very contested piece of legislation” across Whitehall.
“Now I can’t say, and shouldn’t say, as the former head of the civil service, precisely who gave what advice to whom. But what I can tell you, it was highly contested and there were some who saw it, I shan’t name them, as almost reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the way it’s working,” he said.
Asked if he was referring to people in the civil service, Lord Kerslake said: “No, some in the ministers were deeply unhappy.”
Downing Street defended the changes, saying they had been thoroughly debated by MPs at the time. “The changes were fully debated, fully scrutinised by Parliament. It is important that we have an immigration system which is robust and in which people can have faith,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
“Where there are issues in relation to the Windrush generation not having received sufficient support in order to establish their status, she (Mrs May) has apologised and the Home Secretary has apologised.”
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said no one who is entitled to be in Britain will be removed and promised the Government will do all it can to those affected – many of whom came to Britain as schoolchildren in the 1950s and 1960s – to resolve their immigration status.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Government needed to act immediately to deal with the issue. Asked if Ms Rudd should consider her position, he said: “I want those responsible to deal with the problem straight away and if they can’t, move on and let somebody else do it.”
She was defended by Mr Gove, who said: “I think Amber Rudd has taken a grip of this issue. I think she has done exceptionally well to focus Home Office attention on it.”