Laws created to 'reduce' non-white population in the UK, says long-awaited Windrush report

After years of the Home Office refusing to publish the Historical Roots Report, Windrush victim Beverley Boothe gave her reaction to the release

The long-awaited report on the origins of the Windrush scandal says that laws were created to reduce the number of people living in the UK who "did not have white skin".

The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal report was released on Wednesday after the Home Office previously refused to publish it.

The report said: "Major immigration legislation in 1962, 1968 and 1971 was designed to reduce the proportion of people living in the United Kingdom who did not have white skin.

"The Windrush Scandal was caused by a failure to recognise that changes in immigration and citizenship law in Britain since 1948 had affected black people in the UK differently than they had other racial and ethnic groups.

"As a result, the experiences of Britain’s black communities of the Home Office, of the law, and of life in the UK have been fundamentally different from those of white communities."

The report examines a vast period, from the medieval period to the establishment of the Home Office in 1782 and into the twentieth century.

It explores the impact of the two world wars and early immigration legislation that set the stage for the later century.

Additionally, it focuses on the lives of the Windrush Generation, tracing their journeys as immigration rules and attitudes evolved.

It also said that the approach to race differed between the Home Office and race equality law.

“The work of various governmental bodies in combatting discrimination in the UK was separate from the task given to the Home Office to reduce immigration," it said.

"This led to a paradoxical situation in which immigration policy assumed that too many immigrants from a minority ethnic background were bad for society, but race relations policy promoted the idea of racial equality.”

During this year’s election campaign, Labour pledged to offer “a fundamental reset moment for the Windrush generation, with respect and dignity at its very core”.

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Before becoming Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer said in June that if elected he would ensure “urgent reform” of the compensation scheme to make it more efficient, a restoration of the Windrush Unit to the Home Office, and a Windrush commissioner “to be the voice of families affected”.

The Windrush scandal - which campaigners have since said should be known as the Home Office scandal - erupted in 2018 when British citizens were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in Britain.

Many lost homes and jobs and were denied access to healthcare and benefits. When the scandal was uncovered, the Conservative government promised to right the wrongs of what had happened but the compensation scheme has been repeatedly criticised for the speed at which claims are being processed and payments made.

Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon said: “We’re still waiting to have more details from the (new Labour) Government about how they’re going to tackle and resolve the Windrush scandal, in particular the compensation scheme.”

The latest figures showing claims and payments made under the scheme up to the end of August are due to be published on Thursday.

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