DEPUTY PRIME Minister David Lidington has called into question the Government’s policy on capping compensation for victims of the Windrush scandal.
Presented with the government’s proposed compensation figures on The Andrew Marr Show, Lidington contradicted the Home Office approach to setting compensation amounts, saying: “I think it depends on each individual case and I’m sure if there’s evidence of injustice that is something that home office ministers will look at”.
When asked if it is a disgrace that a victim of the Windrush scandal Albert Thompson could be given just £500 compensation after being denied cancer treatment, David Lidington said “clearly on the account you’ve given to me that was a disgrace”.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has previously said there would be ‘no limit’ to the amount of money that could be paid to victims of the Windrush scandal, but this week set out plans that included caps on compensation.
In addition to Lidington’s comments, Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said: “This admission by the Deputy Prime Minister that the compensation offered to a victim of Theresa May’s hostile environment is a “disgrace”, should be a wake-up call for this Government.
“In saying that compensation ‘depends on each individual case’ David Lidington has directly contradicted the Government’s woefully inadequate policy announced by Sajid Javid just this week.
“Thanks to the hostile environment created by the Conservatives, British citizens have been wrongly deported, prevented from returning home, denied cancer treatment and vital healthcare, and lost their jobs. Now, a year on from the scandal, they are being offered a pittance, after having their lives torn apart.
“It’s not acceptable and does not go nearly far enough to try to remedy the injustice and hardship members of the Windrush generation have faced at the hands of Theresa May’s Government.”
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