The Windrush scandal had its origins in laws that were specifically designed to strip Black and Asian people of their rights to live in the UK, according to a new report. The Conservative government refused to publish the report in 2022 but, following a decision by a tribunal judge last year, the Labour administration has published it in full.
The report, The Historical Roots Of The Windrush Scandal, concludes that the scandal was the culmination of three decades of racist immigration laws designed to reduce the UK’s non-white population and disenfranchise Black people.
It highlights that the “deep-rooted racism of the Windrush scandal” is a result of government policies designed to reduce the proportion of people living in the United Kingdom who did not have white skin – specifically major immigration legislation in 1962, 1968 and 1971. “Every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with Black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK,” the report reads.
