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The Home Office is being criticised for its “flawed” handling of the Windrush compensation scheme, with a damning report by the Home Affairs Select Committee suggesting the entire scheme should be taken out of Priti Patel’s hands and placed under the supervision of an independent organisation.
MPs on the committee found that only 5.8 per cent of victims had recieved payment four years after the scandal emerged, and just 20.1 per cent of the initially estimated 15,000 eligible claimants had applied at all.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Commons group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme today there was “real fear” that a “lack of trust” in the home secretary’s department was the reason for such low turnout. Among problems are claimants facing a “daunting application process”, “unreasonable requests for evidence” and others being “left in limbo”.
The attack on one of Boris Johnson’s top Cabinet ministers comes amid ongoing speculation about his premiership, as various reports last night suggested dozens of Tory MPs – including one whip, according to The Telegraph – had submitted letters of no confidence in the PM. Weeks of sleaze allegations, government U-turns and that Peppa Pig speech are being blamed for Mr Johnson’s MPs losing faith in him.
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