Appalled over Windrush story

Dear Sir,

I am shocked and utterly appalled at the way this Government is treating the so called "windrush generation", the individuals who were born in a Commonwealth country and arrived in the UK before 1971.

Under the 1971 Immigration Act all Commonwealth citizens already living in the UK were given indefinite leave to remain in the UK buth the Home Office at that time did not keep records of those granted leave to remain or issue any paperwork confirming it difficult for these individuals to now prove they are in the UK legally.

Clearly this Government is not to blame for the extraordinary failure of the Home Office to keep proper records back in 1971 but this Government has the responsibility and obligation to protect those individuals who were so badly let down by the Home Office back in 1971

Lord Faulkner raised the case of Paulette Wilson, a former cook at the House of Commons, who arrived to the UK from Jamaica in 1968 and who almost 50 years later would have been deported if it had not been for the actions of her MP, Emma Reynolds, and the Refugee and Migrant Centre in Wolverhampton.

The Guardian highlighted other cases including Michael Braithwaite, who arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1961, who had worked in a primary school for over 15 years but lost his job in 2017 because he did not have up to date identity documentation.

Lawyers working for the "windrush generation" advise that Home Office require at least one but preferably four, pieces of documentary proof of their residence for every year they spent in the UK but of course records going back decades have been destroyed and are almost impossible to retrieve.

Prime minister Theresa May and home secretary Amber Rudd should be truly ashamed of themselves for not ending this disgraceful state of affairs.

I hope your readers will add their signatures to the more than 52,000 who have already signed the petition calling for an amnesty for anyone who was a minor that arrived in Britain between 1948 to 1971 because these people deserve much better than the shabby treatment they are currently suffering under this Government.

Yours faithfully,

ROBERT DOUGLAS

Congleton.