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The Home Office was guilty of “institutional ignorance” and “thoughtlessness” to the Windrush generation, a report found today.

The inquiry by Wendy Williams said the scandal was “foreseeable and avoidable” and blamed ministers and officials.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she apologised unreservedly for the “unimaginable suffering” for the hundreds of people affected.

The report was ordered in the wake of the 2017 scandal that saw hundreds of people who came to this country from the Caribbean threatened with detention and deportation even though they had a legal right to live in the UK.

The Williams report said the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants and their children had been “poorly served by this country.”

“They had every right to be here and should never have been caught in the immigration net.

“The many stories of injustice and hardship are heartbreaking, with jobs lost, lives uprooted and untold damage done to so many individuals and families.

“However, despite the scandal taking the Home Offce by surprise my report sets out that what happened to those affected by the Windrush scandal was foreseeable and avoidable,” the report said.

Ms Williams said that even when stories started to emerge of how people were being mistreated the Home Office was “too slow to react.”

(Image: REUTERS)

“A range of warning signs from inside and outside the Home Offce were simply not heeded by offcials and ministers,” her report says.

It said there was a culture of “disbelief and carelessness” at the department when dealing with the Windrush generation who were “failed when they needed help most.”

She added: “While I am unable to make a defnitive fnding of institutional racism within the department, I have serious concerns that these failings demonstrate an institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation within the department, which are consistent with some elements of the defnition of institutional racism.”

The report makes 30 recommendations, including calling on the Home Office to come up with a plan within six months to improve how it deals with immigration issues.

It also calls for a full review of the “hostile environment” - the tough new rules on migration implemented by former Home Secretary Theresa May.

Other recommendations include the creation of a Migrants' Commissioner to champion migrants to the UK and a new training programme for all Home Office staff.

(Image: PA)

Ms Patel told MPs she would respond to the recommendations in the next few months.

She said there was nothing she could do to undo the “suffering and misery inflicted on the Windrush generation.

“What I can do is say 'I'm truly sorry'. I'm sorry people's trust has been betrayed.”

Labour MP David Lammy called for recommendations to be implemented in full and said the report was a “brutal indictment of the Home Office.”

He said what happened was not a mistake or an accident but a “systemic” pattern of behaviour “rooted in a toxic culture.”

Mrs May told MPs she associated herself with the apology made by the Government. “I gave my apology previously and I do so again today,” she said.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said: “The review into the lessons of Windrush and some genuine contrition from the government are long overdue.

"The verdict that there are elements of institutional racism at the Home Office is damning, and means there must be a root and branch overhaul and change of culture.

"But there must also be an end to the government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy, or there will never be an end to new cases in this scandal.”

Ms Williams, the Independent Adviser for the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, said: “My report sets out how and why this happened and makes recommendations for change to ensure that the injustices this group of people suffered can never happen again. I urge Ministers and officials to implement my recommendations in full.”