How dare ministers try to blame the Windrush fiasco on Home Office staff | Mark Serwotka

It’s shameless of Theresa May and Amber Rudd to try to shift the blame on to people who have a difficult enough job as it is

The escalating Windrush scandal has rightly caused national outrage. Reports of deportations, grandmothers holed up in detention centres and people losing the right to housing, healthcare and a decent living, mark a shameful chapter in this country’s treatment of people who were invited here to live and work.

From the inhumane attitude of the government towards Commonwealth citizens, to the revelation yesterday that Home Office staff themselves are subject to racism in their workplace, it is clear there needs to be a massive shift in how the government approaches the issue.

My union – the Public and Commercial Services Union – has been clear from the outset: we opposed the Immigration Act 2014, and many of our members were appalled at the “hostile environment” created by then home secretary Theresa May as she sought to make political capital out of the sensitive issue of immigration.

The “Go home” vans which stalked our streets showed there were no depths to which the government would not sink to sow division in our communities and demonise the most vulnerable

Our members – many of whom work in the Home Office and the wider civil service – are dedicated, caring and conscientious. They have borne the brunt of cuts, pay restraint and increased workloads, due to the constant changes in government immigration policy.

And according to the civil service people survey, nearly one in four Border Force staff (24%) say they have suffered some form of discrimination. Other Home Office agencies have a similar problem, with one in five immigration enforcement personnel and 15% of employees at UK Visas and Immigration (which, rather ironically, handles claims for residency and asylum,) all saying they had suffered discrimination.

So it is perverse that ministers have repeatedly, since the scandal broke, sought to shift blame on to Home Office staff – people who do a difficult job trying to provide the best service possible, but who are not responsible for government policy.

The government thanked all staff for their “hard work and professionalism” in an email last week. But these words will ring hollow for many members when they see ministers seeking to wriggle out of their responsibilities.

Politicians have shown themselves to be past masters at shifting blame. First home secretary Amber Rudd then the prime minister both attempted to use the situation as a political football, rather than admit that their immigration policies have failed.

Even culture secretary Matt Hancock made a fool of himself on Sky News last week when he mistakenly referred to UK Border Agency (UKBA) as being “independent” in 2010. It was not – it was an “executive agency of the Home Office”. The government was ultimately responsible for all the decisions taken at the UKBA and they are responsible for this current crisis.

Ministers now attempting to assemble a hastily agreed taskforce to sort out the problem in just two months will put yet more pressure on an overstretched and underfunded workforce.

The public should be in no doubt that my union stands in solidarity with all those caught up in a crisis which was not of their own making. And we will defend resolutely the rights of our members to work in a well-resourced Home Office free from discrimination, while we push, as a union, for a humane immigration policy that respects people who decide to come to this country.

• Mark Serwotka is the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union

Contributor

Mark Serwotka

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
As home secretary, I’m determined to fix the Windrush injustices | Sajid Javid
We are launching a consultation so that people can have their say on how compensation should work

Sajid Javid

19, Jul, 2018 @1:21 PM

Article image
It’s not just Windrush. Theresa May has created hostility to all immigrants | Nesrine Malik
There has been no bureaucratic snafu. The error was that the dragnet picked up some people who fall into a popular sympathy sweet spot, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

Nesrine Malik

19, Apr, 2018 @5:00 AM

Article image
We’re grateful for your Windrush work – but the fight for justice goes on | Letters
Letters: Guy Hewitt, high commissioner for Barbados, thanks Amelia Gentleman for exposing the Windrush scandal, Gideon Ben-Tovim says too many bodies colluded in creating a hostile environment, immigration solicitor Sheona York says it was clear from 2013 that people in the UK lawfully would be affected, and Diane Astin says the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (Laspo) has much to answer for

Letters

23, Apr, 2018 @3:08 PM

Article image
Windrush is a chance to end British intolerance dating from slavery | Guy Hewitt
We must end the discrimination that is the legacy of a horrific past, says the Barbados high commissioner, Guy Hewitt

Guy Hewitt

01, Aug, 2018 @11:48 AM

Article image
The Windrush scandal is institutional racism, pure and simple | Hugh Muir
Amber Rudd has gone, but behind the fiasco is a government that defended a policy that discriminated against black Britons, says Hugh Muir, Guardian Opinion associate editor

Hugh Muir

30, Apr, 2018 @8:08 AM

Article image
Why I’m turning down Theresa May’s invitation to celebrate Windrush | Gus John
As a Caribbean migrant to the UK, I stand with those who have suffered in the ‘hostile environment’, says the academic and campaigner Gus John

Gus John

21, Jun, 2018 @3:29 PM

Article image
The Windrush scandal shows the urgent need for immigration legal aid | Fiona Bawdon
Legal aid for immigration cases was abolished in 2012. That decision needs to be reversed, says freelance journalist Fiona Bawdon

Fiona Bawdon

25, Apr, 2018 @9:18 AM

Article image
Don’t let Rudd’s departure distract from a toxic policy that needs to die | David Lammy
The Windrush generation will not get justice until it is the law that is changed, not just the home secretary, says Labour MP David Lammy

David Lammy

30, Apr, 2018 @11:51 AM

Article image
The Tories have made a mess of immigration. Only Labour can fix it | Diane Abbott
It’s time to remove the draconian Immigration Act 2014 – and those who put it in place, says Diane Abbott,shadow home secretary

Diane Abbott

29, Jun, 2018 @8:43 AM

Article image
May leads with coldness and cruelty. Just ask the children of Windrush | Hugh Muir
Ministers choose not to solve this immigration debacle, steered by a leader who has form in making people’s lives a misery, says Hugh Muir, associate editor of Guardian Opinion

Hugh Muir

16, Apr, 2018 @9:53 AM