Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

1525108648

Amber Rudd resigns - as it happened: Sajid Javid appointed new home secretary

Home secretary steps down after increasing pressure over handling of Windrush scandal

Samuel Osborne,Ashley Cowburn

Monday 30 April 2018 07:11 BST

✕

Sajid Javid appointed as Home Secretary

Sajid Javid has made his debut in Parliament as the new home secretary following the resignation of Amber Rudd.

As he arrived at the Home Office to take up new his job earlier in the day, Mr Javid vowed to make sure people caught up in the Windrush scandal are treated with “decency and fairness”.

Ms Rudd became the fifth departure from the cabinet since last year’s snap general election after admitting she had “inadvertently” misled MPs over the existence of targets for removing illegal immigrants.

The MP for Hastings and Rye stepped down on Sunday evening, a day before she was due to make a statement in the House of Commons on the targets and illegal migration, as she faced increasing pressure over the handling of the Windrush fiasco.

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Show all 15

1/15Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain.

Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury.

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support.

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954.

Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I can’t face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice."

PA

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain.

Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex.

Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica.

AFP/Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own.

AFP/Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats.

Getty

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK

Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948.

Getty

Responding to the Lord's vote, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer says:

“This is a hugely significant moment in the fight to ensure Parliament has a proper role in the Brexit negotiations and that we avoid a no deal situation.

“Labour won the argument at the end of last year for Parliament to be given a meaningful vote on the terms of our withdrawal from the EU. And we are clear that it must be just that: a meaningful vote.

“If Parliament votes down the Article 50 deal, then Parliament must decide what happens next. Under no circumstances can the Prime Minister be given a blank cheque to crash the UK out of the EU without a deal.

“I would urge the Prime Minister to accept this cross-party amendment and recognise that there is no majority in Parliament or the country for a no deal Brexit.”

Ashley Cowburn30 April 2018 17:06

Theresa May admits she knew of targets to deport illegal immigrants – hours after a Cabinet minister suggested she had no knowledgeTheresa May has revealed she did know there were targets for deporting illegal immigrants – hours after a Cabinet minister suggested she had no knowledge. The comment will pile pressure on the prime minister to explain to MPs why she did not intervene, to point out that Amber Rudd – when denying the targets existed – had misled parliament.

Ashley Cowburn30 April 2018 17:16

Theresa May suffers key Brexit defeat as House of Lords votes to kill off prospect of UK crashing out of the EU with no dealTheresa May has suffered a crucial Brexit defeat after the House of Lords voted to kill off any prospect of the UK crashing out of the EU with “no deal”. Peers voted by 335 votes to 244 to ensure parliament – rather than the government – decides the next steps if the prime minister’s exit deal is rejected in the autumn. Unless the defeat is overturned in the Commons, it increases the chances of softening the deal and sending the government back to the negotiating table if the agreement is rejected. More follows…

Ashley Cowburn30 April 2018 17:18

Speaking after the vote, Minister for Exiting the EU, Lord Callanan said: “We are disappointed that the House of Lords has voted for this amendment in spite of the assurances we have provided.

“What this amendment would do is weaken the UK's hand in our negotiations with the EU by giving Parliament unprecedented powers to instruct the Government to do anything with regard to the negotiations – including trying to keep the UK in the EU indefinitely.

"It is absolutely right that Parliament is able to scrutinise the final deal, and that is why we have already committed to giving both Houses a vote on the final deal.

“We will now consider the implications of the House of Lords’ decision.”

Ashley Cowburn30 April 2018 17:21

Brexit result has been thrown into question by the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, says Tory MPA Conservative MP has for the first time claimed that the result of the Brexit vote has been thrown into question by the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, increasing pressure for a fresh public vote on the exit deal.

Ashley Cowburn30 April 2018 17:40

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies