It has been revealed that a report which concluded that the Home Office was ‘institutionally racist’ over its ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy has been ‘watered down’. The claim has been edited out of the final draft of the so-called ‘lessons learned’ Windrush Review into detentions and deportations of members of the Windrush Generation. The report was originally due to be published in March 2019 but has yet to appear.
An early draft of the report, led by inspector of constabulary Wendy Williams, described the Home Office as ‘institutionally racist’. But according to sources reported by The Times, this has been removed. Previous leaked extracts of the report said the department had been ‘reckless’ and had a ‘defensive culture’ over how it handled immigration. A leak that emerged last week said the government should end the removal of foreign-born offenders who arrived in the UK as children. According to The Times, this recommendation has also been removed from the latest version
Labour MP David Lammy, who has campaigned on the Windrush scandal, said it had resulted in the “systematic deportation and detention of black citizens by the Home Office. The victim’s nationality and rights were denied because of the colour of their skin. If that is not institutionally racist, I have no idea what is.”
