Sajid Javid has admitted the Windrush scandal felt “very personal” and because he he believed it could have been him and his family facing threats of deportation.
The housing and communities secretary, whose parents are from Pakistan, said he was “immediately impacted” by stories of children of immigrants facing removal from the country.
He admitted the fiasco could lead to some ethnic minority voters ditching the Conservatives in local elections on Thursday, but pleaded with the public to look at "the bigger picture".
The comments are likely to add to pressure on Amber Rudd, the home secretary, who is facing calls to resign over her handling of the saga.
Ms Rudd and Theresa May have both apologised for the problems facing Windrush-generation migrants but the home secretary is fighting to cling on to her job after twice appearing to give Parliament inaccurate information about the government’s use of deportation targets. She is due to give a further statement to MPs on Monday.
The Windrush scandal erupted after it emerged that people who have lived legally in the UK for decades had been wrongly caught up in the government's clampdown on illegal immigration. Some had lost jobs, pensions and healthcare, whie others had been threatened with deportation.
Mr Javid told The Sunday Telegraph; “I was really concerned when I first started hearing and reading about some of the issues. It immediately impacted me. I’m a second-generation migrant. My parents came from Pakistan, just like the Windrush generation.”
“They came to this country after the Second World War to help rebuild it, they came from Commonwealth countries, they were asked to come in to [do] work that some people would describe as unattractive – my dad worked in a cotton mill, he worked as a bus driver.”
He added: “When I heard about the Windrush issue I thought, ‘That could be my mum…it could be my dad…it could be my uncle…it could be me.”
Mr Javid was speaking ahead of local elections on Thurdsay in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the country. Polls suggest the Conservatives are on course for a difficult showing and could lose their flagship London councils of Barnet, Wandworth and Westminster.
Despite the ongoing row over the government’s handling of the Windrush fiasco, Mr Javid said voters should overlook the scandal and focus on “the bigger picture” when they cast their ballot in local elections on Thursday.
He said: “Please look at the response to Windrush, and the apology, in terms of trying to put things right.
“And, secondly, the bigger picture about how this government has been committed to trying to deal with the injustices in society, some of which matter more to people from ethnic minorities.
He added: “It felt very personal to me as well and that’s why I’m pleased that as soon as it came to light, that the prime minister and the home secretary in particular acted so decisively.”
