Professor Sam Raphael, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, has spoken to The Guardian about the Home Office spending at least £22,000 on legal fees in an unsuccessful attempt to block the release of an internal report that concluded that the Windrush scandal stemmed from three decades of racist immigration laws.
The Windrush scandal involved thousands of individuals who were lawfully living in the UK, many originally from Caribbean countries, who were mistakenly labelled as immigration offenders. As a result, people lost their jobs and homes, were refused access to healthcare and pensions and in some cases were unlawfully arrested, detained or deported.
The Home Office report was titled The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal and aimed to improve the understanding of the historical development of immigration policy at the Home Office and look into how this history shaped, and was shaped, by the history of race in the British Empire. Despite producing the report, it has been revealed that the Home Office spent over £22,000 in legal bills to prevent its release. Professor Raphael played a key part in the revelation as he filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on what was spent in the cover-up which brought this figure to light.
In The Guardian article he said: “The report was embarrassing, but embarrassment is not grounds for exemption under freedom of information rules.”
Professor Raphael runs Unredacted, a research unit that investigates and documents secretive UK national security practices. The team files an extensive number of FOI requests to various public authorities across a range of issues and work with journalists where the results are of public interest.
About the research unit he said: “Unredacted is a research unit that investigates and documents secretive UK national security practices. Our team produces original, high-impact research, identifies abuses of power and helps to hold governments and corporations to account. Now, more than ever, this work is vitally important, helping to build a more just and inclusive society.”
Read the full article on The Guardian website.
Find out more about Politics and International Relations courses at the University of Westminster.
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