Dear Supporter
It is evident that an Independent Public Inquiry into the Windrush scandal is urgently needed.
The Windrush Lessons Learned report has still not been published despite being a year late now. In addition recent reports of the content being watered down to deny racism played a part in the scandal and the government's refusal to comply with recommendations within it when it was leaked last month, it is clear that the public can have no confidence in the government to be be transparent or to take any meaningful actions that actually indicate lessons are being learned.
It was revealed that one recommendation was that people who came to the UK as children should not be deported. Yet we saw the government intent on doing just that and refusing to take any notice of the recommendation when they tried to deport almost 50 people on charter flight to Jamaica last month, amongst them were young people who were groomed by gangs and those convicted under now defunct joint enterprise law.
The government also tried to defy a high court judgment and a ruling in the court of appeal whi h said they couldn't deport the majority of people booked on the flight and they went ahead and transferred them in the middle of the night and took them right up to the plane, only deciding to comply at the last second, whilst on the airfield.
We can have no confidence in their ability or commitment to take any meaningful action that brings about justice for those impacted or prevents further injustice going forward.
Only 3% of those eligible for compensation have been awarded any payment and some of those who have been assessed have had to appeal due to the woefully inadequate amount awarded which does not reflect their losses and the trauma they have endured to date.
People are being denied access to justice because the costs of legal representation needed to make an application prohibits them being able to apply.
Horrifically there are victims of the Windrush scandal living on the streets. Gbolagade Ibukun-Oluwa, who is a wheelchair user, has been homeless since 2008 and seeks shelter at night in airport terminals which he has also been removed from by security.
Andrew Bynoe came to the UK , aged 12 years old from Barbados and is also homeless. He applied for compensation as soon as the scheme opened but still has not received any payment.
"He asked the Home Office for an emergency payment, under the Windrush vulnerable persons scheme (designed for precisely this kind of situation), but this was refused. “We are not satisfied that there is a sufficiently compelling reason to offer a payment or that the circumstances of your request are exceptional,” the Home Office told him.
It is for all the above reasons and many more failures and dehumanising treatment of people that an independent public inquiry into the Windrush scandal is imperative and I would be very grateful if you were to write to your MP to ask them to support this call.
You can do this via this link;
Please let your MP know you have signed this petition.
If you are sharing this update on social media please use the hashtags:
#windrushscandal #WindrushPublicInquiry
Thank you for your support.
Regards
Zita