UK: Home Secretary calls Windrush scandal 'ugly stain' on the country

Speaking in Parliament today, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel described the Windrush scandal as an “ugly stain on the face of the country and on the Home Office", and committed to deliver both meaningful and lasting change.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty UK Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

“Despite stating its commitment towards lasting change, the Home Office still fails to recognise that fundamental to the Windrush scandal was its own refusal to promote and facilitate the rights of black and Asian people to citizenship of the UK, the country of their home and connection.

“This continues today. The department continues to block the same rights of thousands of people born in this country, who know only this country, who are as British as their peers and entitled to its citizenship. Yet again, it is black and Asian people who are largely affected.

“This scandal will never be over until the rights of all British people to British citizenship are recognised and respected.”