Windrush petition signed by 130,000
Windrush campaigners have delivered a petition to Downing Street signed by more than 130,000 people calling for action to address failings which led to the scandal.
Anthony Bryan, Elwardo Romeo, Glenda Caesar, Michael Braithewaite, Natalie Barnes, Paulette Wilson and Patrick Vernon presented the document, which also demands swift compensation payments for victims.
The move comes just days before the 72nd anniversary of when the SS Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks on 22 June, 1948 carrying about 500 people from Jamaica.
A report published in March found the Windrush scandal – which saw people with a right to live in the UK were wrongfully detained or deported to the Caribbean – was “foreseeable and avoidable” with victims let down by “systemic operational failings” at the Home Office.
The department demonstrated “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness” towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation, the review found.
Official figures published last month revealed fewer than 5 per cent of claims made under a compensation scheme for victims have been paid out.
Mr Vernon said: “People were promised justice and reform. The government needs to show it’s listening and that it’s honouring its promises.
“Windrush Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter. Action matters.”
Satbir Singh, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the group welcomed the review, but added: “Now it’s time to learn those lessons, and for the government to share its timetable for implementing the recommendations.” of Edinburgh University students Laura Norris and Duncan Hothersall, who were keen to emulate the incredible success of the Pride movement south of the Border.
Homosexuality remained a crime in Scotland until 1980 – 13 years after the Sexual Offences Act was updated in England and Wales.
In a recent article published on the website of LGBTI equality group, the Equality Network, Ms Norris and Mr Hothersall explained the great difficulty they faced in making the first Scottish march a reality.
They wrote: “We’ve said this many times since, but the honest truth is that the small band of people who set up Pride Scotland in 1994 and ran the first march and festival in 1995 only managed it because we were too stupid to realise it was impossible.”
Gillian Will Vaughan was in an all-lesbian soft rock band at the time and were invited by Pride Scotland to play their first ever gig at the Meadows.
Describing the electricity of the day, she says now: “The march was like a huge outing, literally. All sorts of lesbians and gays and colourful folk from every corner of Scotland, like a huge family reunion, but with so many strangers. There was drumming, chanting, banners, a lot of eye contact and even tears, it was electric.”
One of the figures who was instrumental on the day was Tim Hopkins, now director of the Equality Network, which was formed in 1997.
He was designated the role of march co-ordinator and said Pride Scotland 1995 was a huge step forward that attracted a far more positive response from the public than had been anticipated.
He said: “It was crucially important and it got a better response from the general public than we thought it would.
“We had asked shops on the route if they would put out rainbow bunting and a big proportion said yes. All of that was quite a big surprise to me at the time. The positive response the event received was quite heartening.”
A special Pride Scotland march had been planned for last weekend to mark the 25th anniversary, but was cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. Online events celebrating Pride month have been planned by many groups.