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U-turn: Theresa May will now meet with Caribbean leaders to discuss Windrush generation immigration issues

PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has made a U-turn on her decision not to meet with Caribbean representatives to discuss the immigration status of members of the Windrush generation this week.

May will hold a meeting with leaders from the Caribbean to discuss the issue, Downing Street has announced.

A dozen leaders from the Caribbean have come together to raise the topic with May.

Guy Hewitt, the Barbados high commissioner to the UK, has been a vocal supporter of the Caribbean-born UK residents facing immigration trouble after decades of living and working in the country.

Ahead of the Downing Street U-turn, Hewitt said: “We did make a request to the CHOGM summit team for a meeting to be held between the prime minister and the Commonwealth Caribbean heads of government who will be here for the CHOGM and regrettably they have advised us that that is not possible.”

Number 10 has said that the prime minister was “not aware” of the request for a meeting from Caribbean leaders before this morning.

Labour MP David Lammy said: “I will not rest until this is sorted. A meeting with Commonwealth heads is a small U-turn. By the end of the day the Government must guarantee the status of all the Windrush children caught up in this crisis. Anything less than that is not good enough. An apology would be nice, too.”

I will not rest until this is sorted. A meeting with Commonwealth heads is a small U-turn. By the end of the day the Govnt must guarantee the status of all the Windrush children caught up in this crisis. Anything less than that is not good enough. An apology would be nice, too. https://t.co/htR7PyXaQL

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) April 16, 2018

Lammy announced via Twitter that he has secured an urgent question – a query raised after prime minister’s question time that receives and immediate answer from the relevant minister – on the immigration status of Windrush generation children today at 3.30pm.

“This crisis must be resolved today,” he said.

Thousands of people from the Caribbean who came over the UK as part of the Windrush generation have had their right to live, work and access services in the UK threatened or called into question because they lack the documentation needed to prove their status.

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