Good morning. In late 2017, the Guardian started publishing a series of stories that highlighted numerous cases of mistreatment from the Home Office towards Caribbean-born UK residents who had migrated during the Windrush era, between 1948 and 1971. For six months the investigation quietly rumbled on, revealing how people’s lives were destroyed after they were incorrectly classified as illegal immigrants, rendering them unable to stay employed, or to access housing or other public services. Many were deported to countries they had not lived in since they were children – 24 of those people died before the government could contact them to apologise for its error.
By the time of that apology, the issue had become a political scandal that resulted in the resignation of the home secretary, Amber Rudd. An independent review found uncovered “profound institutional failure” that had destroyed hundreds of people’s lives.
In the years since, the government has faced significant political and legal scrutiny over its handling of a crisis that seemingly had brewed for decades. On the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush docking at the Port of Tilbury in Essex, the Home Office has reportedly closed down its transformation directorate, the unit tasked with handling changes meant to prevent a repeat of the scandal. Staff were told via video call that it would be discontinued by the end of this month, despite reports that the department has failed to adequately reform its culture and to implement changes to ensure that people would be treated more humanely in future.
I spoke to Amelia Gentleman – the Guardian reporter who broke the Windrush scandal story and wrote the book The Windrush Betrayal, Exposing the Hostile Environment – about whether much has actually changed in Britain since the story first came to light. That’s right after the headlines.
Five big stories
Titanic | Search and rescue teams have been in a race against time to find a tourist sub that went missing in the north Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. One of those on board is Hamish Harding, a British explorer. US and Canadian ships and planes have been conducting an intensive search. The five-person craft has 96 hours of oxygen on board and can dive to depths of 4km.
Politics | Boris Johnson faces being blocked from obtaining special access to parliament after only seven MPs voted against the damning Partygate report, dwarfed by the 354 who voted for it.
Environment | Scientists have warned that an “unheard of” marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland poses a serious threat to species. Data shows that sea temperatures are several degrees above normal, smashing records for late spring and early summer.
Housing | Rishi Sunak has ruled out extra help for UK homeowners struggling to pay soaring mortgage costs, as the average two-year fixed-rate loan rose above 6%. The prime minister said the government should “stick to the plan” to halve inflation in its attempts to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Health | David Cameron has admitted failures in his government’s preparations for a pandemic but defended the austerity drive that he and his chancellor, George Osborne, imposed, saying “your health system is only as strong as your economy”.
In depth: ‘The Home Office will try to say it’s time to move on. But a lot of people would disagree’
News of the Windrush scandal rocked Westminister and the country. But as the current home secretary, Suella Braverman, continues to use inflammatory and dehumanising language to describe asylum seekers and migrants, the question remains, have any lessons really been learned?
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The crisis
This week marks 75 years since the Empire Windrush (pictured below) arrived in the UK, bringing with it the first members of a generation who had been encouraged to move to the UK after the second world war to rebuild the country and revitalise the economy.
The 1971 Immigration Act gave Commonwealth citizens – including those from former colonies in South Asia and Africa – the right to live and work in the UK permanently. People built their lives in Britain for decades, had children and grandchildren, worked, paid taxes and engaged in public life. But in 2018 it was revealed that these citizens, many of whom were from the Caribbean, were wrongly denied access to basic public services, charged for life-saving medical treatment and even detained and deported, because the government did not keep records of those granted permission to stay and had not provided them the paperwork needed to verify their status. In fact, it came to light that in 2010 the Home Office had destroyed thousands of landing card slips that recorded people’s arrival dates in the UK.
Since the introduction of the government’s hostile environment policy in the early 2010s – which tasked various public institutions with enforcing immigration controls – at least 83 people have been wrongfully deported.
The stories caused shockwaves. Historically, the public has often veered towards a more anti-immigration perspective, but this was different. “It was really the first time that public sympathies were with the victims of Home Office decisions,” Amelia explains. “There was complete cross-party recognition that a terrible mistake had been made, which raised lots of questions about race in Britain, and how it was that a large cohort of people had been suffering so badly for such a long time without anybody noticing.”
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The transformation directorate
Amelia found out about the goings on at the transformation directorate, a special Home Office unit, after whistleblowers approached her about its closure (“It’s not a unit that’s been particularly well-publicised or one that we’ve got much awareness of what its function is”). In reporting this story, she found that the unit’s role expanded after the Windrush scandal to take responsibility for implementing the reform agenda that Sajid Javid, Priti Patel – and later Suella Braverman – all claimed to have signed up to.
Its success is up for debate. Earlier this year, analysis of the 30 recommendations made by the Windrush review found that just eight had been met, 13 had been partially met, and nine had not been met or were dropped. As recently as February, it was clear that there was still a huge amount of work to be done.
“We need to find out how well they’ve done with finishing all of that work,” says Amelia. “I suspect that when they decide to formally announce the closure of the unit, the Home Office will try to say it’s done and it’s time to move on. But I think a lot of people close to the work would disagree and say that there’s a lot left outstanding.”
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Suella Braverman’s Home Office
It is clear that the Home Office under Braverman wants to draw a clear line under the scandal. She also wants to further toughen the immigration system, and by extension make life more difficult for asylum seekers and migrants.
“The hostile environment policy, which has been rebranded as the compliance environment, remains in place,” Amelia says, “so I don’t think it serves the Home Office’s interests under Suella Braverman to be self-critical about what happened during the Windrush scandal. Within this reform agenda [the point was to] reshape the culture of the Home Office to make it fairer towards individual immigrants, to make the immigration system more humane and more compassionate. That agenda isn’t really in keeping with the goals of the Home Office.”
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Has anything changed?
There have been some positive changes. There was, for example, a widespread drive to give documentation to people who did not have it. “That scheme has worked really well,” says Amelia. “Almost 16,000 people who didn’t have documentation now have it – that has been done very swiftly and very successfully.”
As a result, people were able to find work, accommodation, and access the NHS and their pensions. Some people who were deported or denied re-entry were brought back to the UK. And while the Windrush compensation scheme has been criticised as being too slow, narrow and prescriptive, it is still there and has given some people financial relief.
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Where does the Home Office find itself now?
“After the scandal, there was a lot of soul-searching within the Home Office about how it could have found itself in a position where it got something so wrong for such a long time, without civil servants feeling able to raise the alarm,” Amelia says. Civil servants have since been encouraged to take a more compassionate approach to immigration and asylum applications through training programs that encourage more thoughtfulness and educate workers on the country’s history of colonialism and racism.
While this is certainly better than nothing, there is a disconnect between these attempts to humanise the immigration process and the government’s political stance, which has only gotten more hardline. Despite the government’s best efforts to close this chapter, it is clear that the Windrush scandal remains unresolved.
What else we’ve been reading
Sport
Cricket | An opening Ashes Test heads into a decisive final day in which all four results are possible. On the gripping fourth day England were 273 all out and Australia head into the final day needing 174 runs to win, with England seeking seven more wickets to stop them.
Football | Bournemouth have appointed Andoni Iraola as their manager on a two-year contract after sacking Gary O’Neil who was dismissed despite steering Bournemouth to Premier League safety. Iraola is free to take charge after leaving Rayo Vallecano at the end of the season.
Euro 2024 | Wales’ hopes hang by a thread after Turkey defeated them 2-0 at Samsun Stadium. Meanwhile Northern Ireland lost 0-1 to Kazakhstan at Windsor Park – the Kazakhs’ third win on the bounce in the competition. Bukayo Saka hit a hat-trick, as England thrashed North Macedonia 7-0. Kylian Mbappé set another record as France stretched their 100% start in European Championship qualifying Group B with a 1-0 win over Greece in Paris.
The front pages
The Guardian leads this morning with “Tories round on Johnson as MPs vote to approve Partygate report”. The Titanic submersible drama is in the picture slot, with British adventurer Hamish Harding shown. “Race to save the trapped Titanic dive adventurers” says the Times while the Sun has “Brit on lost sub to Titanic” and the Daily Telegraph goes with “British billionaire missing on Titanic tour”. It’s a full front-page pictorial treatment in the Daily Mail: “UK billionaire trapped inside Titanic touris submarine with air running out”. “Race against time to rescue Titanic sub” says the Daily Express, which also finds room to lament about the Partygate vote – “Surely our ex-PM didn’t deserve THIS final insult”. “Hunt for lost Titanic sub” – that’s the Metro. The Titanic wreck’s bow is pictured on the front of the Financial Times while its splash story is “Mortgage squeeze piles pressure on homeowners and raises risk for Sunak”. A composite picture of the missing sub itself and Hamish Harding is on the front of the i – its top story is “Mortgage rates will stay high until 2025”. There’s a puff for the sub on the Daily Mirror – “Race to rescue Titanic sub crew” while the lead is the “Covid chaos fallout – Shame on you” the headline admonishes, with a composite picture of David Cameron, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson.
Today in Focus
Why police are stepping back from mental health callouts
Police spend an estimated 20-40% of their time on mental health calls, according to the College of Policing. Is Humberside police’s ‘Right Care, Right Person’ a better way? Helen Pidd reports
Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Three years ago, Christian Cooper, who is African American, was birdwatching in New York’s Central Park when he was threatened with the police by a white woman who claimed she feared for her life. Speaking with the Guardian, Cooper explains his decision not to take legal proceedings further against the woman, after the racist exchange went viral. “We [African Americans] are fighting to have some sense of proportionality in how we are treated in the criminal justice system. So how can I turn that around and not consider the same thing?” he says, in an interview that takes in his new memoir, his love of nature and activism, and both his blackness and queerness. Cooper says he was not traumatised by his experience, explaining: “When I go back to the park and I am at that spot where that mess happened, I’m not thinking about that. I’m remembering that time when there was a mourning warbler on that chip path 15 years ago and I remember the scarlet tanagers last week. That’s what I think about.”
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
