Jeremy Corbyn ambushed by Theresa May in Home Office row over Windrush

Jeremy Corbyn was dramatically ambushed by Theresa May in the Commons today as the Windrush fiasco enveloped Labour.

In a startling move, the Prime Minister told the Commons that a decision to destroy thousands of landing cards belonging to Windrush generation immigrants was taken under Labour.

Her claim flummoxed Mr Corbyn, whose front bench earlier called for the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd for exactly that decision.

The drama began soon after the Prime Minister gave a heartfelt apology to the Commons for the blunders that left some people and their children from the Windrush generation of Commonwealth migrants — who helped rebuild Britain after the Second World War — facing threats of deportation and being denied free healthcare.

Labour claim: Theresa May said the Labour government was responsible in the row
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Mr Corbyn then stood up and began a heated exchange, saying: “Yesterday we learned in 2010 the Home Office destroyed the landing cards for a generation of Commonwealth citizens, so have told people, ‘We can’t find you in our system.’

“Did the Prime Minister, the then-home secretary, sign off that decision?”

Mrs May replied: “No, the decision to destroy the landing cards was taken in 2009 under a Labour government.”

Her words sparked shouts of “apologise” from the Conservative benches. Earlier Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, had demanded the head of Ms Rudd over the landing cards, even though the Home Secretary was not involved in the decision. Tottenham MP David Lammy joined the attacks the attacks too, tweeting: “You destroyed the records and now you are destroying lives. I fail to understand why a minister has not resigned. Abject.” And Labour MP Sarah Jones told the Commons ministers should be “ashamed that her Government destroyed thousands of landing cards of those arriving from Commonwealth nations and is now trying to throw those people out.”

Mrs May’s announcement of the date clashed with Home Office officials who earlier today said the decision to destroy the landing cards was taken by border officials in October 2010, when Mrs May was in overall charge of the Home Office. Now it seems that they were destroyed in 2010 following a decision the previous year.

Calls to resign: Home Secretary Amber Rudd is under pressure over the row
PA

If correct, then either retired Labour MP Alan Johnson or Jacqui Smith was Home Secretary in charge.

Mr Corbyn tried to battle on, saying the Government had caused “pain and stress” by denying Windrush citizens their rights. He said: “I think we need some absolute clarity on the question on the destruction of the landing cards. And if she’s trying to blame officials I remind her of what she said in 2004 when she said she was sick and tired of Government ministers who blame other people when things go wrong.”

But Mrs May replied emphatically: “The decision to destroy the landing cards was taken in 2009 and as I seem to recall in 2009 it was a Labour home secretary.”

Mrs May said there were no known deportations of people from the Windrush generation... “we are not aware of any specific cases of a person being removed from the UK in these circumstances.”

EU citizens in Britain today said they were “hugely worried” that the Windrush fiasco could happen to their own children. “Will our children be in the same situation in 20 or 30 years’ time?” asked Maike Bohn, a campaigner with pressure group the3million, which is pressing for stronger safeguards for 3.6 million UK residents who come from EU states.

“They are hugely worried — and what is happening to the Windrush generation is adding to their anxiety.

“These were people promised that their rights would last a lifetime. And a year before Brexit there is still no certainty about EU citizens’ eligibility and criteria to apply for their new status.”

The Government has promised life-long “settled status” to European Union citizens currently living in the UK and later arrivals who qualify, including full rights of residency and access to NHS healthcare and benefits.

Windrush generation arrive in Britain

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Concern rocketed overnight according to Ms Bohn, after it emerged that the UK Border Agency under the Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants’ arrival dates in the UK after the Second World War.

The Windrush generation are in the midst of a major row with the Government over having to prove to the Home Office they have the right to live in the UK despite being given indefinite leave to remain in 1973.

The landing cards listed their date of arrival, but according to the Home Office do not provide reliable evidence as to whether they stayed in the UK or their immigration status.

A Home Office source said: “So it would be misleading and inaccurate to suggest that registration slips would therefore have a bearing on immigration cases whereby Commonwealth citizens are proving residency in the UK.”

One man, Nick Broderick, said he had contemplated suicide over fears he would be deported to Jamaica, the nation he left as a baby in 1962. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he came into contact with authorities during an immigration check four years at the recruitment firm in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, where he worked.

Mr Broderick, whose older brother Andrew received a UK passport while serving in the British Army, said he sent in reports from his school and doctor and “everybody else that I could find, but it wasn’t good enough for them”.

The scrapping of the landing cards finally in October 2010 raised questions about whether then-Home Secretary Mrs May’s close aides approved or encouraged it, although sources said it was an “operational decision” taken by civil servants.