Windrush generation and their children to all receive full UK citizenship after scandal

All members of the Windrush generation and their children are to be offered full British citizenship without delay, it was being announced today.

A sweeping package of compensation and new citizenship rights were being rushed out by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. A Commons statement by the minister was hoped to end the furore, with measures that insiders said it would be “big” and “far-reaching”.

The package will include a fast-track procedure for people who came to Britain from Commonwealth countries from the late 1940s to the 1970s to take out citizenship and be entitled to a UK passport.

Their children will have the same right — and the usual fees for applications which run to more than £1,200 will be waived.

A generous compensation package will also be extended to those who suffered by being prevented from returning to the UK, or by the threat of deportation or by being denied rights such as free NHS health care.

It follows disgust at the disclosure that elderly people who were given a lifelong right to be UK residents in 1973 found themselves barred from returning after visiting the places in which they were brought up.

Ms Rudd wants to rip up red tape that prevented many Windrush generation families from proving that they had lived in the UK for decades, including a requirement to provide four documents proving residence for every year in the UK. This requirement was dubbed “impossible” for many long-term residents who had not stored documents.

Sources say the detail of the package will come later, including eligibility for compensation and how payments will be calculated.

A slew of cases have emerged in recent days since the Prime Minister apologised for the situation.

Trevor Johnson and his brother Desmond, who arrived as boys from Jamaica in 1971, said their lives were ruined. Trevor faced threats of deportation, while his brother was barred from returning after he went to Jamaica for his father’s funeral in 2001.

A government whip acknowledged the treatment of some Commonwealth citizens was “unacceptable”.

But Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, came under fire after claiming the problems had “nothing to do” with the immigration reforms implemented by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

In an email to a constituent, Mr Freer said the issues were “wholly separate and unconnected” and accused the Opposition of “opportunism and hypocrisy” over the scandal.

Labour MP David Lammy, who has campaigned over the treatment of the Windrush generation, said Mr Freer’s comments were “very different indeed to the conciliatory lines of apology” about the scandal from the Prime Minister and Home Secretary.