The Windrush commissioner, the Rev Clive Foster, has warned that Black Britons are asking if the United Kingdom is ‘going backwards’, as political rhetoric targets legal migrants. In an interview marking his 100th day in office, Foster said survivors of the Windrush scandal see echoes of the past in current debates, creating a ‘cold chill’ among the community.
Foster, whose parents came from Jamaica in the 1950s, has conducted a nationwide tour meeting more than 700 survivors. He cited Conservative MP Katie Lam’s call for legal migrants to ‘go home’, Reform UK’s proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain, and Labour’s plan to double the standard settlement qualifying period as fuelling anxiety. ‘People have been telling me how they are fearful, they feel fragile,’ he said.
The Home Office this week adopted several of Foster’s recommendations for the Windrush compensation scheme, including paying 75% of awards in advance, compensating for lost pension contributions, and prioritising claimants aged 75 and over or with serious health conditions. Foster is now calling for legislative ‘stress testing’ of any immigration policy changes to ensure their human impact is fully considered and that progress is secured beyond a single government.
Foster emphasised that the scandal’s true scale is ‘bigger than we first realised’ and that many Commonwealth individuals whose status was denied remain unreached. He noted that Black veterans expressing pride in their British identity, such as those wearing medals in Wales, should not be defined by the scandal but by their dignity and contributions.
In a related move, the Home Office relocated portraits from Brixton’s ‘Windrush Untold Stories’ exhibition to its own buildings, which Foster met campaigners to discuss. He stressed the need for ‘justice now’ and warned that without action, the hard-won commitments on integration and identity could be lost.
