Prime Minister apologises to Windrush gran brought up in Telford
Theresa May has apologised to a grandmother who was brought up in Shropshire, in the wake of the Windrush scandal.
Jamaica-born Paulette Wilson was threatened with deportation and locked up in an immigration centre, despite having lived in the UK for 50 years.
On a visit to the region, the Prime Minister said she was sorry for Mrs Wilson’s treatment and vowed to ensure that everybody from the Windrush generation received the official documents they need.
The Government has been accused of ‘institutional racism’ over its immigration policy, which has seen Commonwealth citizens and their children denied welfare support and threatened with expulsion despite legally living in Britain for decades.
Mrs Wilson, aged 61, was told in January that she could stay in the UK. She had been branded an illegal immigrant in 2015 and spent a week detained in Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre last October.
She arrived in the UK in 1968 and lived with her grandparents in Wellington, Telford. When they died she was looked after by Shropshire Council and placed in the Vineyard children’s home in Wellington.
Her working life included being employed at the House of Commons, serving food to MPs.
But the Home Office told Mrs Wilson, who now lives in Wolverhampton, that she was an illegal inmigrant three years ago. She was told she would have no access to benefits, work or healthcare.
Anxious
Yesterday the Prime Minister visited the Shropshire Star’s parent company Midland News Association as part of a tour of the region.
Speaking to the Star, she said: “Of course I am sorry to Paulette for what has happened, as I’m sorry to anybody from the Windrush generation who has had a bad experience, or who is anxious because of what has happened.”
She added: “The Windrush generation helped to build this country and they have a right to be here.
“They are British, they are part of us.
“When they came over, the Government at the time did not give them documents to show their right to be here. We need to address that situation.
“Many people now have documents, but the Home Office has set up a special team so anybody from the Windrush generation who is worried should get in touch with the Home Office.”
Mrs May said: “They are there to work with them to ensure they get the documents they need.”
