The Windrush scandal was no mistake – it was a failure on every level

Analysis: The Lessons Learned review, which has finally been published, shows that root and branch reform of the Home Office is the only option, writes May Bulman

Immigrants to Britain from the West Indies at Southampton in 1956 (Getty)

Systemic operational failings”, “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness” and a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” are not features one would hope to find in a government department. But in the Home Office, it was these problems that led to Commonwealth citizens who had lived in Britain for decades being stripped of their rights, according to the long-awaited Windrush Lessons Learned review.

The report, by inspector of constabulary Wendy Williams, was commissioned nearly two years ago, when it emerged that under the Home Office’s watch, British citizens from Commonwealth countries – notably from Caribbean nations – had been wrongly dismissed from their jobs, denied NHS treatment and even been deported from the country they call home.

Although it has ended up coming at the most unfortunate time, the review makes for crucial and damning reading. It highlights how attempts by successive UK governments to demonstrate they were being tough on immigration – by tightening immigration control and passing laws creating the hostile environment – showed a “complete disregard” for the Windrush generation. And that in doing this, the department was hampered by a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” and ingrained “ignorance and thoughtlessness”, partly consistent with institutional racism.