Speech: Windrush 70th Anniversary

14 June 2018

Wera spoke in the House on the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, calling for an end to the 'hostile environment'...

The speech comes in the wake of the Windrush scandal, that shocked the nation and exposed the Government's heartless approach to people that have every right to be here.

Wera said as part of the speech:

"I am an immigrant; I can honestly say that in only two cases during my nearly 30 years living in this country have I faced open hostility.

It is the responsibility of politicians to encourage the inclusive and tolerant attitudes of our citizens and it is the irresponsible politicians who stir or undermine the cohesion of our communities by blaming immigration for rising inequalities, job insecurity, poor availability of housing and poor public services.

The Windrush generation fell foul of this and are the first to have suffered. Only if the government now completely changes its attitude to immigration, stresses the huge benefits of our immigrant population, their hard work, their contribution and their loyalty to this our country, can we make amends and will the Windrush generation feel vindicated.

I call for the days of the “hostile environment”, created by the Government which led to the Windrush scandal, to come to an end. And by officially recognising 22nd June as National Windrush Day we can give people from all backgrounds a reason to celebrate their unique identities, histories and rightful home in UK."