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DEPUTY Prime Minister David Lidington has questioned his own party’s compensation cap for the Windrush scandal victims.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced last week that there was a £200 million fund to compensate the estimated 15,000 long-term British residents dubbed illegal immigrants by the Conservative government, including £10,000 for those wrongly deported.
Mr Lidington said compensation “depends on each individual case,” contradicting Mr Javid’s policy. He also accepted that it was “a disgrace” that victim Albert Thompson could be given a mere £500 after being denied cancer treatment.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Mr Lidington’s admission should be a wake-up call for the government.
She said: “Thanks to the hostile environment created by the Conservatives, British citizens have been wrongly deported, prevented from returning home, denied cancer treatment and vital healthcare, and lost their jobs.
“Now, a year on from the scandal, they are being offered a pittance, after having their lives torn apart.”
Ms Abbott said it was “not acceptable” and “does not go nearly far enough to remedy the injustice and hardship” victims endured.