Diane Abbott responds to Government’s written statement on immigration

24 May 2018
Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the Government’s written statement on immigration, said:

“This is a major U-turn by this Government. When I called for a Statutory Instrument to guarantee the rights and status of the Windrush generation – all those who arrived here from the Commonwealth before 1973 – Ministers previously said this was unnecessary.

“The Home Secretary now says he will make generous offers to people who have been here a long time and to their children. We will wait to see the scale of this generosity on interpreting visa restrictions. Yet there is still no word on compensation, only consultation even though people are still suffering unemployment, homelessness and refusal of NHS care because of this Government’s hostile environment policy.

“There is also no further information on the deportations, and none at all on immigration detention of any the Windrush generation or how many were bullied into so-called voluntary removals. All these issues still need to be addressed.”

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