the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

Sorry that should read 'the Syrian regime'.

This is someone I've been following for a long time just to get an understanding. Such a minefield. He was named in that Times story and had a tweet misattributed to him.

Here is the proof, they are someone else's words, not mine and @thetimes cannot even get that right. pic.twitter.com/LnDz2NVJAE

— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) April 14, 2018

'deported in error' ffs the absolute state of these craven shits

Immigration minister @carolinenokes apologises to #Windrush generation wrongly questioned over their right to stay in UK but tells me some have been deported in error. Watch full interview at 7 on @Channel4News

— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) April 16, 2018

Enough is enough.

I realise comparisons on the basis of 'if this had happened with Corbyn...' probably aren't helpful (tho often also extremely hard to resist) but wow

Number 10 says Theresa May was “not aware” of request from Caribbean leaders leaders to meet to discuss concerns about Windrush generation before *this morning*

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 16, 2018

this type of evil personifies May, and the whole mix of vindictiveness and incompetence she has brought to being Home Sec and PM.

making people Citizens of Nowhere is her game.

deportation is no big deal so you can see why they wouldn't check every last detail before they do it

These stories are absolutely diabolical. What a disgrace.

yeah, vindictiveness and incompetence is exactly it - she and her team have no fucking idea how to position her to make the horrible stuff they do look anything other than exactly the evil that it is

the best that no 10 can come up with in response to a scandal that's been building for months is 'oh the pm didn't know about it until this morning'? fuck sake, they're not even trying - this is right up there with may turning up at grenfell for five minutes with a full police escort and refusing to meet any of the people who lived there

from the opening of that grauniad story

They are the children of the Windrush generation, who were invited to move to the UK by the British government to help with postwar rebuilding. All are here legally, but

the only reason there's a 'but' there is outright institutional racism - every single one of the people profiled in that piece has every right to be here

maybe the BBC could run a daily morning show about the exciting adventures of deportation officers and the challenges they have to face with scroungers and illegals

to give them a human face

quick reminder that the 1971 immigration act gave people who had already settled here indefinite leave to remain, so this issue was to all intents and purposes settled FORTY-SEVEN FUCKING YEARS AGO

yeah we deported some people illegally ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

how many? errr

BREAKING: Immigration minister Caroline Nokes appears to admit to @itvnews @pennymitv that some Windrush immigrants have indeed been deported, but she can't give numbers. pic.twitter.com/9N5uyuzgKG

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) April 16, 2018

Quick reminder that Amelia Gentleman, who has been at the forefront of telling these people’s stories in the Guardian for the past three months, is married to JO FUCKING JOHNSON.

Theresa May knows, and Windrush Twitter says these kinds of deportations have been happening for 20 years.

oh yeah, there's no doubt that theresa may knows, has known for a long time, and indeed set the tone for these deportations during her tenure as home secretary

It bears repeating that the ‘hostile environment‘ policy is not about the strict enforcement of penalties for illegal immigration, it’s about convincing people here legally that they’re unwelcome and should leave. It’s not about determining rights, it’s about making processes so complicated, expensive and in many cases impossible to work through that people with rights fall foul of them or simply give up.

In other news...

Rarely can you hear the sound of jaws dropping - but Esther McVey just said rape survivors might welcome the 'opportunity to talk' about their ordeal to a stranger to access benefits.

- "it's potentially double support"

— andy philip (@andydphilip) April 16, 2018

just another day in the uk's strong and stable government

who better to talk to about the trauma of your sexual assault than some peon from the benefits office, with the added excitement of knowing you might end up financially worse-off at the end of it? double support indeed!

what the fuck, that can't be actually fucking real can it?

Why wouldn't it be real?

When McDonnell called Esther a "stain on humanity" he was just making an honest observation.

the blood just drained out of my head reading that tweet. the horrifing lack of empathy of tory politics encapsulated in that one sentence. these people are just fucking anti-human

super-great that the government is also forcing the peons from the benefits office (some of whom will undoubtedly be rape survivors themselves) to listen to untold hours of appalling stories from traumatised people, with (iirc) no additional training or support for any mental health issues they may suffer as a result

this isn't a defence of the system, it's an indictment really, but i guess it's like doctors or other people who work with traumatic human issues - you develop a thick professional skin. everything's just a statistic, isn't it? at least the stupid ones let that fact slip out in public occasionally.

whenever you hear an MP going on about disability rights or pensioners it's because they have a disabled relative or are a pensioner like this is the only way they could be expected to relate

McVey defended the hated child tax credit cap in front of astonished MSPs and welfare campaigners at Holyrood.

She said: “People will be supported and shown to the various other organisations - and again this could give them an opportunity to talk about maybe something that’s happened that they never had before.

“So, it’s potentially double support there - they’re getting the money they need and maybe an outlet they might possibly need.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/anger-esther-mcvey-claims-rape-12372703#ICID=sharebar_twitter

it looks like she's saying that the benefits office can refer them to a specialist rather than suggesting that there's a therapeutic benefit to discussing this with a random jobcentre clerk per se, but's it's still pretty terrible

Esther got the poisoned chalice DWP gig purely because her rep couldn't be sullied any more, sometimes I can't tell if she is thick as fuck or playing to the gallery. But she is definitely pure evil.

btw

You’ll need to complete the non-consensual conception form with the help of an approved third-party professional. You don’t have speak to, or give details about the circumstances of the conception to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff.

They’ll need to provide supporting information to show you’ve been in contact with them and that your circumstances meet the conditions of this exception.

Approved third-party professionals are:
•healthcare professionals, for example, doctors, nurses, midwives or health visitors
•registered social workers
•specific organisations, such as specialist rape charities - find a list of these organisations

If you need to speak to us about this exception, you can call the Tax Credit Helpline and ask to speak to the ‘specialist exceptions team’ due to your circumstances.

yeah, but i suspect that if you've set your sights on becoming a doctor or a policeman or a paramedic or whatever you're at least aware that you're going to have to face the aftermath of trauma fairly regularly

i don't think many people have ambitions to work in a benefits office, and regardless, i don't think anyone who works in the benefits office would expect that evaluating whether a woman's third child was actually the product of a 'legitimate' rape would be part of their job (xps)

thanks for posting that nv - not quite as terrible as i'd thought procedurally but jesus what an awful, dehumanising policy

it's kind of insane that this clause has been written in in the first place - the implications of why this creates an exemption while other children don't is boggling, some kind of Inquisition level Lawful Evil trap for the poorest families in the country

"if you will insist on birthing children you can't afford then fuck you, you deserve to be poor, but i guess we should probably let you off if you've been raped"

If a further pregnancy results in a multiple birth on or after 6 April 2017, you’ll get the child element for all but one of those children.

For example, if you already get Child Tax Credit for 2 or more children and you have twins, you’ll get the child element for one of the twins. If you have triplets, you’ll get the child element for 2 of the triplets.

the phrase Kafkaesque is overused a lot but

no u see it's compassionate because it means women who birth their rapist's child get an extra £13.70 a week

You can’t claim this exception if you live with the other biological parent of the child.

or if you don't want to disclose that you've been raped to HMRC or etc etc etc

caroline bokes has been on the bbc:

What I would say is I want to send a message to the West Indian community. We invited you here. We wanted you to come to the UK and help us rebuild after the second world war. We absolutely have a duty to make sure that those who have not had their status regularised - and there may well be many of them - have the opportunity now. Come and get in contact with the Home Office.

yes, members of the west indian community, please get in contact with the home office, we promise we probably won't deport you when you do, honest - you might not even lose your job!

"you" / "them" - just too hard to stay in second person isn't it

indeed

at the end of that itv news clip nokes says 'i value these people' which is nagl

just another example of how this terrible fucking government can't even do media properly

The statement from Nokes published last night.: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2018/04/15/immigration-minister-op-ed-in-the-voice/

This issue came to light because measures introduced in recent years to make sure only those with a legal right to live here can access things like NHS treatment and rented accommodation, meaning people must now be able to prove their status.

Having not previously needed documentation they have now found themselves without any way of proving their status today.

All that these people require is a simple card which is available from the Home Office.

So today I am encouraging anyone who is concerned that they are not currently able to prove their status to apply.

I know that establishing status after so many years may be difficult for some people but we will do everything we can to assist them.

We will handle every case with sensitivity and will help people understand what is required and help them gather the information they need.

People don’t need formal records. Any information that people can provide, from schools they attended to places of work, family or former addresses will help build this picture.

Not clear how this process works at all. You've lived here however many years, you are ill and seek NHS treatment, at some point your name is given to them...a database check confirms residential status? So why the card?

Residential status doesn’t confer right to treatment aiui. Anyone who has been resident in the UK since 1971 will have a right to treatment, anyone who has been resident here since 1972 without formal leave to remain will not - and would be de facto considered an illegal immigrant. The NHS will not know that.

That 1971 / 1972 division is the crux of this. If you can not prove you have been in the UK every single year since 1971 uninterrupted, you have no legal status. The people who were ‘incorrectly deported ‘ were probably here since before 71 but just couldn’t prove it, or couldn’t document that they had not gone to the Caribbean for a year at any point, etc.

probably here since before 71 but just couldn’t prove it

not surprising since the burden of proof they were required to produce was up to four pieces of documentary evidence for every year they spent in the uk

Nightmarish condition, I think nearly everybody would struggle to provide one piece of evidence for each year, never mind four.

i'd be deported under those conditions for sure - who the fuck has literally 100+ of pieces of proof of citizenship to hand covering decades? it's absolutely a pretext to deport innocent people

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Da60sHvW0Acxe2T.jpg

Gapes has apparently won the Hilary Benn award for thundering oratory wind that makes Tories clap very loudly today.

BBC still seems to be going with "some of generation Windrush have been threatened with deportation" so maybe they're not keeping up with this thread