On Wednesday 14th August, a solicitor and senior officer at the Government’s inspectorate of constabulary has urged the Home Office to use “neutral language” after the repeated use of the term “activist lawyer” prompted outrage.
Wendy Williams, author of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review told MPs that it was “absolutely essential” that the department used the “right language” when discussing migration. Her plea arrives in light of the video that the Home Office had earlier posted on Twitter and which the department had to take down following widespread criticism from legal professionals, who warned that the phrase “undermined the rule of law”.
Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office had earlier admitted that this language “should not have been used” on an official government channel, and would “not be used” again on any Home Office channels. The video was subsequently deleted.
The number of people who have been granted the Windrush compensation are very low with the latest official figures highlighting that as of September 2020, 168 out of 1,272 claimants had received payments since the scheme opened in April 2019.
