There were distressing reports yesterday that chartered deportation flights to Jamaica are being resumed, with one scheduled for 2 Dec. Aspects of these removals have been deemed unlawful by the Court of Appeal. [1/13] independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
It is unclear whether deportations are being carried out lawfully at present, but we're not bursting with confidence that they are, to put it mildly, given the revelations of the past few days. [2/13] theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/n…
What *is* clear is that we now have parallel seams of human rights abuses being perpetrated simultaneously against Black and brown people, largely of limited economic means - the #WindrushScandal, which relates to deprivation of UK residency/citizenship and documentation; [4/13]
and the #WindrushCompensationScandal, wherein citizens, having endured the torment of fighting for and getting citizenship/residency docs, are slapped with derisive compensation offers that put them in their place. We know this now because of Ms Ankrah's brave account. [5/13]
While we have always suspected the Windrush Compensation Scandal is predicated on institutional racism, Ms Ankrah's account of @ukhomeoffice caseworkers arguing Black and brown people systematically disenfranchised by the government "should be happy with whatever they get" [6/13]
conclusively gives the lie to @ukhomeoffice's cut-and-paste statements that it is "carefully considering individual cases", and "righting the wrongs" with a "compassionate" (h/t @pritipatel) approach. So - what now?
First, please sign the petition above. [7/13]
Second, we must clamour for independent oversight of all aspects of @ukhomeoffice's conduct on the Windrush Scandal, migrants and refugees more broadly - i.e. continuing mass deportation attempts, casting nets in the sea, demonising lawyers challenging these abominations. [8/13]
Third, and this really shouldn't even be debatable any longer, we must fight for the Windrush Compensation Scheme to be prised from the racist, miserly claws of @ukhomeoffice and handed to an independent external body. It is baffling that it was ever put in charge of this. [9/13]
For it to remain in charge of this after everything we've seen over the past few days (with thanks to the outstanding reportage of @ameliagentleman) is frankly a massive middle finger to the entire nation. [10/13]
It is encouraging to see Labour MPs such as @BellRibeiroAddy, @NickTorfaen and more pick up on the Windrush Compensation Scandal, and @CommonsHomeAffs led by @YvetteCooperMP open an inquiry into it. But people are dying, and we need to go faster and further. [11/13]
The Windrush Compensation Scheme has to be taken away from @ukhomeoffice now. The conduct of officials administering this shitshow should also be evaluated in light of Ms Ankrah's comments - if you were this bad at your job anywhere else, you'd be fired, [12/13]
and that's before we consider that at least a few officials (which is to say civil servants) have been openly racist in carrying out their taxpayer-funded duties. There must be repercussions. The time for policy reviews and improvement plans is over. [13/13]
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On the heels of yday’s revelations from @cheamfields re racism in the Home Office, here is an **old article** by a senior member of the government’s Windrush Cross Government Working Group. This person was vetted (presumably) and appointed [1/11]
to this post, in which he is expected to advocate FOR Windrush victims and facilitate justice for them, by @ukhomeoffice. [2/11]
To be clear, we don’t know if Bishop Aldred would still stand by all of the views expressed in this post, which dates to June 2018. But some of the views expressed here are not of the type likely to change. For example: [3/11]
In the pvt sector, turning up to a board meeting this poorly briefed wld be unprofessional at least and sackable at worst. @MatthewRycroft1 and his @ukhomeoffice colleagues didn't have basic numbers (which are published) or facts, and didn't seem embarrassed about it. [2/12]
It wasn't just us, biased as we obviously are, who thought that. @Meg_HillierMP and @YvetteCooperMP wrote to the Home Office shortly after, requesting all the data and clarifications that couldn't be given at the session.
MINI-THREAD [THREAD 7]:
We’ll be doing a full run down of the car-crash appearance of @MatthewRycroft1 and co before the @CommonsPAC this morning in due course, but there’s one tiny thing we want to get out of the way, because it tells a complex story very simply. [1/7]
About 5mins into the session, @YvetteCooperMP asks a very simple, contained and clear question. You paid 143 people approx £1m, 143 people being 10% of the claimants *at that time*. Extrapolating, that would lead to total payments of about £10m. [2/7]
That is WAY less than the min £200m this Scheme was supposed to pay out. So... what’s happening? Now - and this is NOT @YvetteCooperMP’s fault - the error is clear. 10% of total claimants *at the time* is not the same as 10% of total expected claimants. [3/7]
Home Office witnesses are: Matthew Rycroft (MR), Permanent Home Secretary; Charu Gorasia (CG), Director General for Capabilities and Resources; Joanna Davinson (JD), Data and Technology Officer. We suspect only MR will be speaking on the Windrush Compensation Scheme
Chairing the Committee is Labour MP Meg Hillier (MH) and in attendance is Labour MP Yvette Cooper (YC), Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee. We'll try get the names of other MPs asking questions right but bear with us.
Hello @YvetteCooperMP We understand you’ll be attending the @CommonsPAC hearing tomorrow - if you’re short of questions on the Windrush Compensation Scheme (we’re sure you’ll have plenty), feel free to just read out any of our threads verbatim, eg: (1/4)