Windrush 70th anniversary: Theresa May joins 2,000 people for celebrations at Westminster Abbey

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Tom Powell22 June 2018

More than 2,000 people gathered at Westminster Abbey today to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush generation in Britain.

Theresa May attended the event on Friday alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan, home secretary Sajid Javid and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.

Many who travelled from the Caribbean to help rebuild post-war Britain were also there with their descendants to mark the moment hundreds disembarked from the ship Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948.

The Prime Minister clapped along as a gospel choir sang Jesus Hold My Hand, while actors recounting the story of the Windrush arrived as though they had just stepped off the ship.

Theresa May attends the service at Westminster Abbey
AFP/Getty Images

The Government funded the church service, while a separate event was held at the Essex docks where the Windrush migrants arrived seeking a prosperous future in Britain.

But the celebrations have been described as "bittersweet" following a scandal that saw some members of the Windrush wrongly deported and denied access to the NHS, work and housing.

Plans to create an annual Government-backed Windrush Day have been welcomed but questions remain over compensation for those who have suffered financial setbacks trying to prove their right to live in the UK.

Guests arrive for a Windrush service at Westminster Abbey in London
EPA

The Home Office has reiterated Mr Javid's commitment to a compensation scheme and said more than 500 people and organisations have come forward as part of the call for evidence.

Ms Abbott called on the Government to "come clean" about the full extent of the scandal, blamed on the "hostile environment" to immigrants championed by Mrs May when she was in charge at the Home Office.

"Warm words about commemorating the Windrush generation are not enough," the Labour politician said, adding a call for a hardship fund to help support Windrush citizens.

Labour MP David Lammy, whose Tottenham constituents are among those affected, said British-Caribbeans must be celebrated on the day, but warned the scandal had "left a very nasty taste in the mouth".

Windrush generation arrive in Britain

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The Government effort to right the wrongs of the scandal continued this week with a Home Office announcement that Wendy Williams, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary, and a former Chief Crown Prosecutor, will oversee the Windrush lessons-learned review.

Mr Javid said: "The contribution that the Windrush generation have made to this country is invaluable and I am committed to putting things right."

More than 2,000 people have been provided documentation since April by the dedicated Windrush taskforce, the Home Office said, helping them to demonstrate their right to residence.

Under the new Windrush scheme, which offers free citizenship for Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 and children who joined their parents before they turned 18, some 285 people have so far been granted citizenship, they added.

So far the Home Office has made contact with 11 people who may have been wrongfully removed from the UK as a result of the fiasco.

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