Windrush gran brought up in Telford 'deserves face-to-face apology from the PM'
An MP has called on the Prime Minister to offer a face-to-face apology to Windrush grandmother Paulette Wilson, who was brought up in Shropshire..
Mrs Wilson was locked up in an immigration removal centre last year and threatened with deportation to Jamaica – a country she had not visited since leaving as a 10-year-old.
During a recent visit to Wolverhampton, Theresa May said she was sorry for 61-year-old Mrs Wilson’s treatment.
But speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on Windrush migrants, Wolverhampton North East MP Emma Reynolds said Mrs May had not gone far enough. She said: “The Prime Minister was in Wolverhampton last week and apologised to Paulette through the Express & Star, which is welcome, but why has the Prime Minister, or any other minister, not apologised to Paulette directly?”
Ms Reynolds also questioned why no explanation had been given regarding Mrs Wilson’s detention, adding that evidence her family provided that she had lived in the UK for decades was ‘disregarded and disbelieved’.
Mrs Wilson arrived in the UK in 1968. She was raised by 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.
The Labour MP hit out over the length of time it had taken the ‘national scandal’ to come to light, despite some MPs knowing about it for years.
Mrs Wilson now lives in Wolverhampton.
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The debate was sparked by a petition by activist Patrick Vernon, from Wolverhampton, calling for amnesty for anyone who was a minor and arrived in Britain between 1948 to 1971. It received more that 178,000 signatures in just a few days and was granted a parliamentary debate.
It came after Amber Rudd was forced to resign as Home Secretary on Sunday after she admitted to ‘inadvertently’ misleading MPs over targets for removing illegal immigrants.
She was replaced by Sajid Javid, who has pledged ‘decency and fairness’ for the Windrush generation migrants. The Government has now committed to providing details of the numbers of Commonwealth citizens legally resident in the UK who have been detained and deported, having previously rejected a request to do so from Ms Reynolds over cost.
Mrs May has also pledged that members of the Windrush generation who have been treated unfairly by the Home Office would be compensated ‘where appropriate’.
'A terrible irony'
In the debate Ms Reynolds asked when the compensation scheme would be put in place and whether the Government would be offering legal aid for those who came forward.
She also asked for clarification over a briefing from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which cast doubt on the Government’s pledge that there would be no future enforcement action against the Windrush generation.
Ms Reynolds added: “It is a terrible irony that the Government destroy landing cards and then accuse my constituent and others of not having evidence of their entry to the UK.
“It is a terrible irony that the Government collect taxes and national insurance contributions, but disbelieve individuals when they produce that evidence – I do not know why the Government cannot look for it themselves.
“It is a terrible irony that the departing Home Secretary is apparently not on top of her paperwork, but the Government accuse my constituent and others of not having their paperwork in order to prove their status.
“The Home Office seems systematically to distrust and disbelieve people, and now it is asking the Windrush generation, who perhaps do not have the paperwork they need, to trust that the Government will believe them.
“It is not a surprise that that generation still feel betrayed, and still feel distrustful of the Government.
“The Government need to get a grip on the situation very quickly.
“I would like personal apologies to everybody who has been mistreated, including my constituent, and the compensation scheme needs to be dealt with properly and urgently.
“On top of all that, the Government need to look at their policy. They need to get rid of the removal targets and start treating people as human beings, not numbers.”
In response Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said of Ms Reynolds: “She raised difficult and important questions for me about how we stop this happening again, and she was absolutely right to do so.
“We have to stop it happening again. We have to ensure that the same cannot happen to future cohorts.”
Wolverhampton South West MP Eleanor Smith also took part in the debate, and called for a ‘blanket exception’ for Windrush migrants.
John Spellar, the Labour MP for Warley, said the Windrush scandal had come from ‘deep systemic and cultural problems inside the Home Office’.
