PMQs verdict: May says ‘sorry’ and implicates Labour in Windrush scandal
Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Labour sensed blood over the Windrush scandal and although sorry might be the hardest word it was the only option for the prime minister.
And then Theresa May dropped a bombshell: Labour was in power when the decision to destroy the landing cards of the Windrush generation was made. A stunned Corbyn looked around for help as if to ask 'what now?' No help was forthcoming.
The Labour leader was hoping to pin the blame on May when she was home secretary and the incumbent Amber Rudd. But the PM's revelation that the decision – which has made it much more difficult to prove many of the Windrush kids' settled status – was taken in 2009 sent Corbyn stumbling.
He battled on though, pointing to the 'hostile environment' the Tories aimed to create for illegal immigrants and the controversial 'go home' vans piloted in Brent and Redbridge.
'This is a shameful episode and the blame lies at the government's door,' Corbyn said, blaming the government's ambition to drive down immigration as the reason behind the Windrush scandal. He added that the Home Office became 'heartless and hopeless' when she was the secretary of state and her government was now 'callous and incompetent'. It was a nice sound bite.
You may also want to watch:
So Corbyn just about managed to survive the news that Labour could be implicated in the Windrush debacle. But the knock-out blow he had hoped for failed to land. If only his office had done their research.
And then the PM landed a hefty slapdown of her own: 'I will not take a accusations of being callous from a man who allows anti-Semitism to run riot in his party.'
Most Read
- 1 Brexit regret: Meet the Leave voters who wish they hadn't voted Leave
- 2 Boris Johnson vows action over 'absurd' post-Brexit trading arrangements
- 3 Defence minister Johnny Mercer 'trying to resign' - reports
- 4 Opposition parties push for probe into Boris Johnson's conduct following viral video
- 5 Government scraps Brexit permits to enter Kent
- 6 No 10 says Johnny Mercer is 'valued' minister as it attempts to stop him resigning
- 7 How will you vote in the upcoming elections?
- 8 Labour leader defends NHS after being kicked out of pub in Bath
- 9 Plan for White House-style briefings axed despite £2.6m spend on media room
- 10 Divided Britain: North and south more estranged than Scotland and England
And after the emotional scenes in the chamber only the night before during a debate on that issue she has a point.
VERDICT: Score draw
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.