Tag Archives: liberal democrat immigrants

Lib Dem fury at Windrush betrayal

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd September 2018 - 11:16 am

So, under cover of an incendiary and irresponsible statement by the Prime Minister on Brexit, the Home Office slips out a statement announcing that it is betraying the Windrush Generation by denying some of them the citizenship that it rightfully theirs.

From the Independent:

In a statement issued late on Friday afternoon, the Home Secretary said a number of Caribbean nationals who came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 would not qualify for citizenship because they failed to meet the “necessary good character requirement” due to committing criminal offences.

Windrush citizens are supposed to be afforded the same rights as British citizens, so the announcement is likely to prompt renewed accusations that they are effectively awarded second-class status.

You have to bear in mind that the criminal justice system has at times been institutionally racist and a black person going through it would have got a much rougher deal than a white person.

And the “good character requirement” has come under fire this week as, separately, it was revealed that children as young as 10 had been failed on character grounds.

Liberal Democrats have reacted with anger to this news:

The Lib Dem Campaign for Racial Equality said:

The @ukhomeoffice is institutionally racist to BAME Britons.
The #Windrush generation came to rebuild our country when we were on our knees.
They came as subjects of the British empire, not immigrants, don’t strip them of that status!
End hostile environment now!#ldcre https://t.co/u1REKqXwiH

— LDCRE (@LDCRE1) September 21, 2018