Ministers were in full-on retreat over the 'appalling' treatment of Britain's Windrush generation of immigrants today.

MPs queued up to voice fury at the plight of long-term residents who have lost their everyday rights as Britons - with the government admitting some might have been deported in error.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd apologised for the threat to deport them - and launched a furious attack on her own department for the blunder.

And Theresa May U-turned and agreed to meet Jamaican leaders attending a Commonwealth summit in London to discuss the treatment of the post-watr immigrants.

The PM's spokesman also said the premier 'regretted' the treatment of the Windrush generation and Home Office guidance was being changed.

Ms Rudd launched an outspoken attack on her officials telling the Commons she is concerned Home Office officials 'lose sight of the individual'.

The shift came as immigration minister Caroline Nokes admitted some of the cases were 'appalling' and people had been deported in error - although her boss Amber Rudd later cast doubt on the assertion.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has expressed 'deep concern', while International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt admitted the government must do a 'better job' of dealing with issue.

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Leaders from Caribbean countries who wanted to discuss with Theresa May the plight of those who have lost their everyday rights as Britons have been told there will be no formal meeting with the Prime Ministers (pictured: the SS Empire Windrush which brought the first generation of workers to Britain from the West Indies in 1948)

Answering questions from furious MPs in the Commons, Ms Rudd offered an apology for the way cases had been handled

Theresa May, pictured with Prince Harry at the Commonwealth summit in London today, has U-turned and will now meet Caribbean leaders to discuss the treatment of Windrush immigrants

Immigration minister Caroline Nokes said she had been 'appalled' by the cases - but said she did not know how many had been ejected in error

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid took to Twitter to voice 'deep concern' about the situation

Ministers are under pressure to end the 'inhumane' betrayal of migrants who came here with their parents after the Second World War and never became naturalised British citizens.

Tens of thousands who arrived as children from the Caribbean are said to have been 'treated like criminals'.

Jamaicans told to adopt local accent if they are sent back to island An official Home Office document advising Windrush immigrants being sent to Jamaica tells them to adopt the local accent. The Coming Home to Jamaica leaflet warns that Jamaicans can be hostile to those speaking in a foreign accent. And it urges them to pick up a local dialet to blend in. It stats: 'Try to be ‘Jamaican’ – use local accents and dialect (overseas accents can attract unwanted attention). Advertisement

Answering questions from furious MPs in the Commons, Ms Rudd offered an apology for the way cases had been handled.

'I do not want any of the Commonwealth citizens who are here legally to be impacted in the way they have,' she said.

'Frankly, some of the ways they have been treated has been wrong, has been appalling and I am sorry.

'That's why I am setting up a new area in my department to ensure that we have a completely new approach to how their situation is regularised.'

And she laid the blame for the blunder with officials in her department, telling MPs: 'I am concerned that the Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy, and sometimes lose sight of the individual.

'This is about individuals, and we have seen the individual stories, and they have been, some of them, terrible to hear, and that is why I have acted.'

She added: 'I am not aware of any specific cases of a person being removed in these circumstances.

'That is why I have asked the high commissioners if they know of any, that they should bring it to me.

Labour MP David Lammy delivered a searing attack on the government's handling of cases

Mrs Rudd said she was not certain whether any of the Windrush generation had been deported

'And I would ask anybody here if they know of any such circumstances, they should bring them to the Home Office.'

Ms Rudd said she would be meeting high commissioners from Commonwealth countries this week to find out whether any people had been wrongly removed from the UK.

She made the remarks after coming in for heavy criticism from MPs in the Commons.

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, said it was 'inhumane and cruel' for so many in the Windrush generation 'to have suffered so long in this condition'.

He added: 'This is a day of national shame and it has come about because of a hostile environment policy that was begun under her Prime Minister.

'Let us call it as it is. If you lay down with dogs, you get fleas, and that is what has happened with this far right rhetoric in this country.'

The Commonwealth heads of government meeting is being held in London this week and Guy Hewitt, High Commissioner for Barbados, told the Guardian: 'We did make a request to the summit team for a meeting to be held between the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth Caribbean heads of government, and regrettably they have advised us that that is not possible.'

Albert Thompson has been denied life- saving treatment on the NHS Albert Thompson, who has been denied life saving treatment on the NHS Albert Thompson, 63, has lived in London for 44 years - but told he must pay £54,000 for life saving treatment on the NHS. For three decades Mr Thompson worked, supported a family, and was a head mechanic for a string of garages, and paid his taxes. His mother arrived in the UK from Jamaica in the Sixties to come and work her as a nurse. He had surgery for prostate cancer in January last year, before NHS eligibility rules were tightened, and was to begin radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, last November. But when he arrived for his first NHS radiotherapy session following the removal of his prostate, he was told he was not entitled to free treatment. It is because the Home Office can find no record of Mr Thompson, who was born in Jamaica, in its files. He lost the Caribbean passport he arrived in the UK with some years ago. And without a British passport - which he's never had and cannot not get because there is no documentary proof of his arrival here as a teenager in 1973, landlords will not house him and the NHS have told his he can't have treatment. He said: 'At present I'm left in limbo. It feels like I've been left to die because the job hasn't been finished. I get depressed, stressed out, anxious. 'I used to have a life, to work, to go out, enjoy myself. I had a nice car, a home. I went to the cinema, dancing. But that's the past. I have to think about the present and it's hard to come to terms with. I've got no money. 'I'm very angry with the Government that I'm in this position. I'm here legally, but they're asking me to prove I'm British.' Mr Thompson worked until 2008 when he was diagnosed with the blood cancer lymphoma and an acute back problem; since then he has been too ill to work. He was evicted from his rented flat because his landlord wanted to sell it. Tenants must now produce a British passport in order to rent accommodation. As Albert — not his real name — does not have a passport, he could not find a home. 'I was on the streets for three weeks. I had to beg for food. I felt ashamed. I just asked people in shops if they had anything spare.' After three weeks, Albert had managed to secure a room through a homeless charity, St Mungo's. He still lives in that accommodation now. Advertisement

Elwaldo Romeo has lived in Britain for 60 years - but told he is in UK illegally Elwado Romeo has lived in the UK for nearly 60 years Elwaldo Romeo has lived in Britain for almost 60 years, but has now been told by the Home Office that he is in the UK illegally. He moved from Antigua to the UK when he was four, 59 years ago, and has lived and worked her ever since. But according to the Guardian he received a Home Office letter telling him he was 'liable to be detained' because he was a 'person without leave.' The letter continued: 'You have NOT been given leave to enter the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971.' He has been told to report fortnightly to Home Office premises. The letter also offered advice on 'help and support on returning home voluntarily'. Mr Romeo, 63, said: 'It scares the living daylights out of you – the threatening language on the letters. 'This is the country I've grown up in. I love it and it's been very good to me over the years. But I'm devastated it has come to this. I feel like I'm being thrown aside.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We have been in touch with Mr Romeo to assure him that we are urgently reviewing his case and to help make sure that he is providing the correct information to demonstrate his status.' Romeo said: 'I'm not impressed with the way they are dealing with me and other people in my situation. People's lives are on hold. They don't take into consideration that I've been here since I was four.' Advertisement

New rules require documentary evidence of the right to be here, which many Windrush children do not have as anyone who arrived in the UK from a Commonwealth country before 1971 was given indefinite leave to remain, meaning many did not apply for a British passport

In a growing scandal, children of the Windrush migrants, named after the ship which brought the first generation of workers to Britain from the West Indies in 1948, have fallen victim to an immigration loophole that has left them in a legal limbo.

Despite having lived here and paid taxes for decades, some have lost their homes, jobs and benefits, been denied NHS treatment and threatened with deportation.

Anyone who arrived in the UK from a Commonwealth country before 1971 was given indefinite leave to remain by that year's Immigration Act. But many never applied for a British passport.

Michael Braithwaite's employers ruled he was an illegal immigrant Michael Braithwaite lost his teaching assistant job after his employer ruled he was an illegal immigrant Experienced special needs teaching assistant Michael Braithwaite lost his job after his employers ruled that he was an illegal immigrant - despite living here for more than 50 years. He arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1961, and had worked at a north London primary school for over 15 years when a routine check on his immigration status revealed he did not have an up to date identity document. His employer got in touch with him to tell him that without a biometric card he could not continue to be employed. He lost his full time job in 2017, after the local authority ruled he needed to submit proof he had the right to live in the UK. A biometric card is a residence permit issued to non-British residents, with details of their immigration status Mr Braithwaite attended primary school and secondary school in Britain, and worked continuously since leaving school. He married in London and has three British children and five grandchildren. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: 'It made me feel like I was an alien. I almost fell apart with the stress. I never applied for a British passport. We thought we were British.' Enny Choudhury, Braithwaite's lawyer, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: 'For almost one year the Home Office has failed to issue the biometric card, without which he cannot work or move on with his life, causing uncertainty and distress.' Advertisement

Tough new rules were introduced four years ago to weed out illegal immigrants and prevent them renting a home, working, opening a bank account and holding a driving licence.

The rules require documentary evidence of the right to be here. But many Windrush-era children do not have such proof.

Securing a residence permit requires sending the Home Office up to four pieces of documentary evidence for every year spent in the UK – an almost impossible task.

Ms Mordaunt told BBC radio 4's Today programme: 'People who are in that situation, there is absolutely no question of their right to remain, and their right to gain access to services such as healthcare.

'What clearly needs to happen is we need to do a better job with the process that these individuals are having to go through.

'People should not be concerned about this - they have the right to stay and we should be reassuring them of that.'

The Daily Mail has launched a campaign in support of the Windrush generation.

We are calling for a lower burden of proof for those who arrived here before 1971, and more flexibility shown to those who have lived here and paid taxes for several decades but were never naturalised.

Grandmother Paulette Wilson threatened with deportation Grandmother Paulette Wilson has finally given leave to remain after a two-and-a-half year struggle Grandmother Paulette Wilson, from Wolverhampton, was threatened with deportation, despite living here for 50 years. This month she finally received leave to remain in Britain after a two-and-a-half-year struggle. The 61-year-old was denied benefits, access to healthcare and refused permission to work. In 2015 she received a letter saying she had 'no right' to be in the country, telling he she had to register each month in Solihull, and she even spent a week in the immigration detention centre in Yarl's Wood in October. Mrs Wilson was taken to London Heathrow Airport and threatened with deportation to Jamaica, where she has not returned since leaving age 10. But now she has received a biometric residency permit, confirming her settled status in the UK and bringing her a step nearer to gaining British citizenship. She said: 'I've never done anything wrong; how could I be an illegal? 'It would be nice to get an apology from the government saying: we are sorry we put you though this.' Paulette will now have to complete a naturalisation process to become a British citizen. Her worried daughter Natalie Barnes says her mum is still traumatised by her experience. She added: 'The experience of being in the detention centre won't ever leave her.' Advertisement

Research by academics at the Oxford University-based Migration Observatory suggests that up to 57,000 people who arrived in the UK before 1971 could be subject to such appalling treatment.

Labour MP David Lammy said that 'what is going on is grotesque, immoral and inhumane'. The former minister, whose Guyanese parents were Windrush migrants, added: 'It is a stain on our nation's conscience and the Home Secretary and Prime Minister must act urgently to right this historic wrong.

'After the Second World War we invited the Windrush generation over as citizens to help rebuild our country, and now their children are being treated like criminals.'

A petition is calling for anyone who came to the UK as a child between 1948 and 1971 to have their rights confirmed by the Government. You can add your name to the petition here.

The Home Office said those affected 'should take legal advice and submit the appropriate application with correct evidence'. A spokesman added that there was 'no intention' of making people who have the right to remain here leave.

Have you been told to prove you're British? If you know of cases like these, email windrush@dailymail.co.uk or write with your story to: Windrush, Daily Mail Letters, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT