Today is Windrush Day - where we acknowledge the outstanding economic, social, and cultural contribution the Windrush generation have made to the United Kingdom.
It feels fitting to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush in Britain nearly simultaneously with the NHS’s 75th birthday. The Windrush generation was instrumental in building the NHS, one of our country’s greatest achievements.
It’s just one example of how the Windrush generation has enriched our country - from culture and cuisine to the economy. Their hard work and determination helped to rebuild Britain in our time of need, and I am forever grateful.
As we honour the legacy of the Windrush generation, we owe it to them to stand up to bigotry, hate and injustice.
But too many of them became the victims of the appalling Windrush Scandal at the hands of the Home Office. People who have every right to live in the UK were wrongly denied access to NHS treatment, housing and other services simply because they didn’t have the right documents to prove it. Innocent people were made homeless, detained and even deported.
The Conservative Government should be working tirelessly to right the wrongs of this country’s treatment of people who have given so much to us.
But let’s be clear - this scandal is nowhere near over. Only one in four applicants to the Windrush compensation scheme have received payments, with some people even tragically passing away before they can receive their compensation.
Yet now, we are hearing that Suella Braverman is considering scrapping vital recommendations from the Windrush Lessons Learned review. Conservative ministers seem disturbingly determined to repeat their past mistakes.
We acknowledge the outstanding economic, social, and cultural contribution the Windrush generation have made to the United Kingdom.
This anniversary is both a celebration and a sobering reminder that here in the UK, far too many people’s lives are still blighted by discrimination, inequality and injustice.
So Liberal Democrats will keep campaigning to abolish the Conservatives’ cruel and discriminatory Hostile Environment, and end the disproportionate use of Stop and Search.
And we will keep working to combat racism - whether conscious or unconscious, individual or institutional - wherever we find it.
As we honour the legacy of the Windrush generation, we owe it to them to stand up to bigotry, hate and injustice. I hope you will join me in this fight.
This year there should be jubilant celebrations of the Windrush 75th Anniversary. But instead we hear reports regarding Conservative plans to go back on Wendy Williams' recommendations.