QC’s family was caught up in scandal over Windrush: Barrister who helped to set up scheme to compensate victims finds ‘chilling’ letter from Home Office
- Martin Forde said he discovered a ‘rather chilling letter’ from the Government
- It told his parents to to apply for naturalisation to become British citizens in 1975
- His parents were born in Britain and ‘automatically entitled’ to citizenship
A leading barrister who helped to set up the scheme to compensate Windrush victims has revealed he and his family suffered discrimination by the Home Office.
Martin Forde QC said he discovered a ‘rather chilling letter’ from the Government among his father’s papers following his death in February.
The letter told his Caribbean-born parents, who came to the UK in the 1950s, they would have to apply for naturalisation to become British citizens despite having lived and worked in this country for years.
Officials even said in the letter, which was dated 1975, that they were suspending applications for Mr Forde and his younger brother – even though they were born in Britain and ‘automatically entitled’ to citizenship, the QC said.
Leading barrister Martin Forde QC who helped to set up the scheme to compensate Windrush victims has revealed he and his family suffered discrimination by the Home Office
Mr Forde is an independent adviser to the Home Office’s Windrush Compensation Scheme and disclosed his family’s experience of discrimination as he gave evidence to MPs about problems with the widely-criticised initiative.
His father Ralph was born in Barbados and his mother Cynthia in St Lucia. ‘When my parents, who came in ’53 and ’55, had to apply for naturalisation, they came here thinking they were fully British,’ he told the home affairs committee.
‘My father’s island, Barbados, became independent in ’66 and the legislation then mandated he became automatically Bajan again, although he had been here by that time 13 years and had spent two years doing National Service.
It was in ’75 that he naturalised along with my mother. The rather chilling letter that they got… advised them they were Barbadian.
‘I read that letter, it made me feel as if they were saying “Can you all go home now, we’ve had 22 years of your labour and tax”.’
The Windrush scandal saw the Home Office wrongly target people for removal after changes in immigration policy. Following this, the compensation scheme was launched in April last year.
It has received 1,639 claims and paid out £2.2million despite there being between 10,000 and 20,000 eligible claimants.
Mr Forde said he had seen figures suggesting that the Home Office had expected to pay out between £200million and £500million in total.
He suggested legal aid should be made available to help people to lodge claims and called for a new publicity scheme.
‘I feel this is the one issue that pretty much unites the British taxpayer regardless of political hue. They want people to be properly compensated,’ he said.
He defended the scheme as ‘perfectly reasonable’ but questioned if it was being delivered properly.
Applicants have to provide detailed paperwork to prove claims despite Mr Forde advising that the Home Office should adopt a ‘light touch’ to make the process less burdensome.