Allies rally round May as anger grows over ‘hostile environment’

0 Furore continues over Windrush generation deportations as government denies ‘Nazi’ comparison Michael Gove has insisted that post-brexit Britain will have a “positive, welcoming, liberal, forward-looking” immigration policy after a former head of the civil service revealed some in government saw “hostile environment” policies to crack down on illegal immigration as “almost reminiscent of Nazi Germany”.

The number of cases where members of the so-called Windrush generation of migrants have allegedly been wrongly threatened with deportation rose to 113, amid a continuing row over who is to blame for the controversy.

Campaigners have called for a review of the hostile environment policy, which has requirements for foreigners to prove their immigration status extended to a growing list of public and private services.

Polly Mckenzie, a former Liberal Democrat special adviser in the coalition government, claimed the “Home Office lost touch with its humanity” under Theresa May’s leadership when the new immigration restrictions were put in place.

But the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Nick Timothy came to her defence, arguing in a newspaper column that “we cannot allow [Windrush] to be used to overturn good policies”.

In a bid to embarrass Mrs May, Labour circulated a video from 2004 in which the former Home Secretary said she was “sick and tired of government ministers who simply blame other people when something goes wrong”.

Lord Kerslake, who was in charge of the civil service between 2012 and 2014, said ministers in the coalition government were “deeply unhappy” with the approach.

“This was a very contested piece of legislation across government departments,” he told the BBC’S Newsnight. “There were some who saw it, I shan’t name them, as almost reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the way it’s working.”

Lord Kerslake added that it was “completely ridiculous” to try to blame civil servants for the Windrush situation. “You cannot create a climate and then not expect it to have consequences,” he said.

Labour MP David Lammy, who has acted on behalf of Windrush generation residents, called for lessons to be learned and demanded a review to establish “how and why our immigration system treats people in this way, and what reforms are needed to prevent any further cruelty and injustices”.

In the House of Commons, the SNP’S Pete Wishart joined calls for further scrutiny, warning the Windrush controversy “is not going to go away”.