Letter for publication: Windrush rebuttal

Dear editor,

Former Conservative candidate Nneka Akwaeze has really gone out on a limb in her letter last week, questioning the rights of the Windrush Generation- even the former Home Secretary had to  resign because of her mishandling  of the issue of migration enforcement.

The problem for Ms Akwaeze is she does not appreciate that the Windrush people were easy prey for Teresa May and Amber Rudd’s officers, striving to meet the targets they were set (and which were initially denied) under  the Conservatives’ policy of hostility towards illegal migrants: although the Windrush generation  were here perfectly legally, because they did not have papers to prove that they lived in the UK every year for the last 50 years or so, (and who could?) they were treated as illegal anyway.

They faced detention, deportation, or if they travelled aboard, a refusal to let them back home. They faced exclusion from all public services, including the NHS for which they had paid taxes over their working lives. They were denied benefits and all council and government services. They lost their jobs, leaving people destitute and dependent on handouts from family and well wishers.

This is the true face of the Conservatives, only this time they have been found out.  Late in the day they are struggling to make amends, but would they have done so if the story had not come to light? I doubt it.

Andrew Dismore AM

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden

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