PETITION: Enough tributes. Compensate Windrush victims now.
A national Windrush Day, a monument at Waterloo Station, and now an Overground line.
These are perfectly reasonable (if overdue) ways to celebrate the Windrush Generation and their immense contribution to shaping the Britain we know today.
But against the backdrop of the government’s continued inaction Windrush Scandal, they barely feel like a celebration. In fact, this inaction makes each tribute feel like an excuse - an insult added to an already grievous injury.
Lives have been upended: families split, jobs and homes lost. Victims were wrongfully imprisoned. Some passed away, or tragically took their own lives. Countless others lost the basic assurance of belonging in their own country and home, a feeling we all have the right to take for granted.
The government's response? Shuffling some ministers around. And leisurely, grudgingly paying out a mere 2,000 of the estimated 15,000 compensation claims.
Compare this to the same government's response to the Post Office scandal.
Sadiq Khan has long been a consistent champion of justice for the Windrush generation and their descendants. His tribute to that great generation’s impact on London is sincere. But we cannot allow the government to hide behind such tributes. We cannot allow it to exploit public monuments as performative displays - as distractions from what the government actually needs to do.
And we cannot allow the party that did the damage to drag its feet until the next General Election, as more and more victims despair or pass away.
We don’t want gestures, we want justice. And we want it now.
We demand James Cleverly, Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak expedite the compensation process to ensure the remaining claims are paid out - before the party that caused the problem leaves office.
We demand all payouts are completed by Christmas 2024.
A national Windrush Day, a monument at Waterloo Station, and now an Overground line.
These are perfectly reasonable (if overdue) ways to celebrate the Windrush Generation and their immense contribution to shaping the Britain we know today.
But against the backdrop of the government’s continued inaction Windrush Scandal, they barely feel like a celebration. In fact, this inaction makes each tribute feel like an excuse - an insult added to an already grievous injury.
Lives have been upended: families split, jobs and homes lost. Victims were wrongfully imprisoned. Some passed away, or tragically took their own lives. Countless others lost the basic assurance of belonging in their own country and home, a feeling we all have the right to take for granted.
The government's response? Shuffling some ministers around. And leisurely, grudgingly paying out a mere 2,000 of the estimated 15,000 compensation claims.
Compare this to the same government's response to the Post Office scandal.
Sadiq Khan has long been a consistent champion of justice for the Windrush generation and their descendants. His tribute to that great generation’s impact on London is sincere. But we cannot allow the government to hide behind such tributes. We cannot allow it to exploit public monuments as performative displays - as distractions from what the government actually needs to do.
And we cannot allow the party that did the damage to drag its feet until the next General Election, as more and more victims despair or pass away.
We don’t want gestures, we want justice. And we want it now.
We demand James Cleverly, Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak expedite the compensation process to ensure the remaining claims are paid out - before the party that caused the problem leaves office.
We demand all payouts are completed by Christmas 2024.
