DOCSLIB.ORG

Windrush Lessons Learned Review Independent Review by Wendy Williams

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Windrush Lessons Learned Review Independent Review by Wendy Williams Independent review by Wendy Williams March 2020 HC 93 Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons dated 19 March 2020 for Windrush Lessons Learned Review Independent review by Wendy Williams Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 19 March 2020 HC 93 © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 Where we have identifed any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/offcial-documents Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] ISBN 978-1-5286-1779-6 CCS 0220173690 03/20 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fbre content minimum. Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Offce. CONTENTS Executive Summary 7 Introduction 8 PART 1 What happened, when, and to whom 22 PART 2 Why the scandal happened 48 PART 3 The department’s corrective measures 122 PART 4 Findings and recommendations 134 ANNEX A Terms of reference 154 ANNEX B Review methodology 158 ANNEX C Glossary of terms 166 ANNEX D The Independent Advisory Group 178 ANNEX E Call for evidence 180 ANNEX F Acknowledgements 182 ANNEX G Casefle review: the 164 186 ANNEX H Right to Rent case study 194 ANNEX I Corrective measures 246 ANNEX J Endnotes 266 Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I was asked by the then Home Secretary to A range of warning signs from inside and outside provide an independent assessment of the events the Home Offce were simply not heeded by leading up to the Windrush scandal (particularly offcials and ministers. Even when stories of from 2008 – March 2018) and to identify the key members of the Windrush generation being lessons for the Home Offce. In carrying out this affected by immigration control started to emerge work, I have interviewed those affected and their in the media from 2017 onwards, the department families and representatives. I have also had was too slow to react. access to departmental papers and have met with offcials and ministers, past and present, to ask The report identifes the organisational factors them about their recollections of the period. in the Home Offce which created the operating environment in which these mistakes could Members of the Windrush generation and their be made, including a culture of disbelief and children have been poorly served by this country. carelessness when dealing with applications, They had every right to be here and should made worse by the status of the Windrush never have been caught in the immigration net. generation, who were failed when they The many stories of injustice and hardship are needed help most. heartbreaking, with jobs lost, lives uprooted and untold damage done to so many individuals The lessons are for both ministers and offcials in and families. the Home Offce to learn. Ministers set the policy and the direction of travel and did not suffciently However, despite the scandal taking the Home question unintended consequences. Offcials Offce by surprise my report sets out that what could and should have done more to examine, happened to those affected by the Windrush consider and explain the impacts of decisions. scandal was foreseeable and avoidable. While I am unable to make a defnitive fnding of The causes of the Windrush scandal can be institutional racism within the department, I have traced back through successive rounds of policy serious concerns that these failings demonstrate and legislation about immigration and nationality an institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness from the 1960s onwards, the aim of which was towards the issue of race and the history of the to restrict the eligibility of certain groups to Windrush generation within the department, which live in the UK. are consistent with some elements of the defnition of institutional racism. The 1971 Immigration Act confrmed that the Windrush generation had, and have, the right of This report makes 30 recommendations for abode in the UK. But they were not given any change and improvement which can be boiled documents to demonstrate this status. Nor were down to three elements: the Home Offce must records kept. They had no reason to doubt their acknowledge the wrong which has been done; it status, or that they belonged in the UK. They could must open itself up to greater external scrutiny; not have been expected to know the complexity of and it must change its culture to recognise the law as it changed around them. that migration and wider Home Offce policy is about people and, whatever its objective, should But over time those in power forgot about them be rooted in humanity. I encourage the Home and their circumstances, which meant that when Secretary and the Home Offce to implement my successive governments wanted to demonstrate recommendations in full. that they were being tough on immigration by tightening immigration control and passing laws creating, and then expanding the hostile environment, this was done with a complete disregard for the Windrush generation. Windrush Lessons Learned Review | 7 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Wendy Williams, what they had been through. I was struck at the Independent Adviser same time by their dignity and calm, despite all that had happened; it was a humbling experience. In 2001, Nathaniel went on holiday to Jamaica with his daughter Veronica. Little did either of them know that Nathaniel would never see the UK About the Review again. When they set off to come home to the UK, The Home Offce established the Windrush immigration authorities told him he would not be Lessons Learned Review on 2 May 2018.1 allowed back into the country. The passport he I was appointed as Independent Adviser by had had for some 45 years, which declared him the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, on a citizen of the UK and Colonies, was no longer 21 June.2 good enough, though it had been in 1985, when he last made the trip. And it had been in the mid- The review is asked to “identify the key lessons 1950s, when he arrived in the UK as a young man, for the Home Offce going forward”. The Home in common with thousands of other men, women Offce, as a major department of state, covers: and children, members of what we now know as • the Secretary of State, their Special the Windrush generation. Advisers and the Ministerial Team who Nine years after his holiday, Nathaniel died in head up the department, setting the Jamaica, unable to afford treatment for prostate political direction and priorities; cancer. He and Veronica had decided not to fght • the Permanent Secretary and the Senior the original decision against him. Instead, she had Civil Service who lead and manage the taken career breaks to look after him in Jamaica. department, advising ministers; Nathaniel’s story, and Veronica’s, are part of • civil servants at junior grades who perform what we have come to call the Windrush scandal. the vast majority of policy and operational The UK government, through what it did and did roles, developing and implementing policy not do, threw people into turmoil because it did proposals, and carrying out operational not recognise their legal right to be in the UK. It roles engaging with the public. prevented some, like Nathaniel, from coming back into the country from overseas. It removed and The issues that I identify in my report relate detained others. And through policies designed to to all three of those levels in the Home Offce, combat illegal migration, it denied people access and, similarly, lessons must be learned at to work, housing and services, even though they all levels. While the constitutional position were here lawfully and therefore lawfully entitled is that the Secretary of State for the Home to access them. Some lost their jobs, their homes, Department is accountable to Parliament and in many cases their sense of identity and well- for all the actions of their department, both being. Inevitably, their families also paid a price. ministers and offcials, this cannot be an excuse for those who work in the department Early in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, not to ensure they also learn from the events of I was lucky enough to meet many of the people Windrush. Similarly, ministers are responsible affected, including Veronica. I heard how their for setting the direction of policy and I have experiences left them scared and scarred. I heard found no evidence that offcials were acting how bewildered they felt that institutions could beyond ministerial direction at any time. treat them so badly, and then compound this with insensitivity. As one person put it, “I can’t believe The review’s task was to investigate: I have been treated like this by my beloved • the key legislative, policy and operational England”. Many felt an attachment to the UK and decisions that led to members of the felt they had contributed to society, but had been Windrush generation becoming entangled treated unjustly despite this. Some also felt the in measures designed for illegal government had not understood or acknowledged immigrants 8 | Windrush Lessons Learned Review INTRODUCTION Part 1 shows who the scandal affected and how. It shows how it unfolded before and after it became • what other factors played a part public in April 2018 and describes the warning • why these issues were not identifed signs that emerged from both inside and outside sooner the Home Offce.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Windrush, Shame and Scandal: Race, Class, Gender, and Immigration in a British Context
    Windrush, Shame and Scandal: Race, Class, Gender, and Immigration in a British Context “I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers”.i This paper explores the issues of race, class and gender at the epicenter of British immigration policy, with particular reference to the lived experiences and reality of the Caribbean “Windrush generation” an estimated 500,000 – 700,000 people in the UK, who arrived from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1971 and their descendants.ii This entails exploring the socio-historical context of the migration of the ”Windrush” Caribbean people to Britain and the experiences of themselves and their descendants in British society. Of necessity, we also review the history of immigration patterns control in the UK. This is a critical exercise in view of the current “Windrush crisis” occasioned by the discriminatory implementation and abuse of Immigration law to deport and disadvantage many of the Windrush generation and their descendants.iii In our review parallel streams or race, class and gender are seen to turbulently converge in the everyday lived experiences of Black people in Britain, giving rise to fractures and fault lines in the fabric and landscape of British society. It is crucial that we begin our review and place this crisis in a socio-legal historical context to ensure analytical veracity. In this regard, it is important to consider that the internecine European tribal conflict, known as “World War
    [Show full text]
  • Anthony Joseph & Friends Windrush: a Celebration
    Anthony Joseph & Friends Windrush: A Celebration Start time: 7.30pm Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes including interval Please note all timings are approximate and subject to change Arwa Haider talks to Anthony Joseph and Jason Yarde about putting together a concert to mark the seismic contribution the Caribbean diaspora has made to British culture. On 22 June 1948, passengers disembarked from the HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Dock in Essex. Several hundred of these passengers had boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, and many had travelled from around the Caribbean to Britain: a country inviting immigration from Commonwealth nations as it sought to rebuild itself after WWII. The Windrush generation and its legacy marked a vital sea change for British culture. Tonight, British-Trinidadian poet, novelist, musician and academic Anthony Joseph celebrates the far-reaching impact of the Windrush and the Caribbean diaspora in Britain, with a line-up that is evocative, inspirational and multi-generational. ‘How do we look at 70 years of musical and cultural impact?’ reflects Joseph, when asked about his starting point for the show. ‘Caribbean people have been coming to Britain since the 1800s, but since the 1940s, the diaspora has gone through a series of waves of consciousness. The Windrush generation was coming to what they considered the mother country, trying to fit in and find a place, yet experiencing rejection and denial. We need to address the fact that that the Caribbean is not just Jamaica; I wanted to look at the influence of Trinidad in the 1950s, and how calypso merged into jazz.
    [Show full text]
  • Legitimacy and Citizenships Anna Waldstein
    Special Issue — Edited by I. Pardo and G. B. Prato Urbanities, Vol. 9 · Supplement 2 · April 2019 On Legitimacy: Multidisciplinary Reflections © 2019 Urbanities Legitimacy and Citizenships Anna Waldstein (University of Kent, U. K.) [email protected] Pardo and Prato’s edited volume on Legitimacy: Ethnographic and Theoretical Insights (2019) raises important questions about the relationships between authority, power and trust, especially (though not exclusively) in the realm of governance. As a medical anthropologist with long-term interests in the use of hand-made, botanically-based remedies (including cannabis), issues related to the legitimacy of these medicines have been implicit (if not explicitly addressed) in my research. However, after reading several of the chapters in Pardo and Prato (2019), I realized that the relationship between legitimacy and citizenship is actually of greatest significance for (and has the most resonance with) my work. As they explain in the introduction to the book, governance and law fail when they do not meet the challenge of establishing a working relationship between formal law and people’s cultural requirements. Thus, ethnographic studies of legitimacy at different levels of power raise fundamental questions about citizenship. This brief essay focuses on issues of legitimacy in relation to three anthropological conceptualizations of citizenship: biological citizenship (Rose and Novas 2003), cultural citizenship (Ong 1995; Goldade 2011) and spiritual citizenship (Guzman Garcia 2016). It takes inspiration from various chapters in Pardo and Prato (2019) and other related literature on citizenship, and draws on some of my own ethnographic work with Jamaican migrants in the United Kingdom.1 I show that while legitimate claims to biological citizenship are defined by both government and medical institutions, they must compete with the grassroots legitimacy that underpins cultural and spiritual citizenship.
    [Show full text]
  • Whole Day Download the Hansard Record of the Entire Day in PDF Format. PDF File, 1
    Wednesday Volume 662 19 June 2019 No. 316 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 19 June 2019 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2019 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 219 19 JUNE 2019 220 Drew Hendry: According to every piece of the Secretary House of Commons of State’s own Government’s analysis, there is no version of Brexit that fails to harm Scotland. New YouGov Wednesday 19 June 2019 polling shows that Tory members would prefer Scotland to be an independent country, rather than stopping Brexit. Which choice should the Scottish Secretary make: The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock a devastating no-deal Brexit Britain, or giving the people of Scotland the choice to be an independent European nation? PRAYERS David Mundell: Mr Speaker, it will not surprise you to hear me say that Scotland has already made its [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] choice on whether to be independent or part of the United Kingdom. The poll to which the hon. Gentleman referred was based on a false premise. This Government are about delivering Brexit and keeping Scotland at the Oral Answers to Questions heart of the United Kingdom. John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con): Will the Secretary of State tell us how much SCOTLAND money the Scottish Government have given to local authorities in Scotland to prepare for our exit from the The Secretary of State was asked— European Union? Leaving the EU David Mundell: As far as I understand it, the UK Government have made more than £100 million available to the Scottish Government to help to prepare for 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Windrush Generation
    The Windrush Generation London, United Kingdom 07/06/2018 Sara Maryniak and Cathal Charker This portfolio encompasses every possible aspect of the Windrush generation. There is a specific focus on the history of the generation which gives a solid understanding of who these people are before moving onto the current scandal that has been at the forefront of UK media for the most of early 2018. We included a vast history of the Windrush generation, personal stories and responses from both the government and the public in regards to the current situation while also looking at what this all means for immigration and the cultural impact on a much broader scale. Sara Maryniak and Cathal Charker 1 Contents Page 1. Introduction ……………………………………………. 3 2. Stories a. History of the Windrush Generation ……………. 5 b. Notting Hill and Brixton Riots …………………. 10 c. The Windrush Scandal - What is it …………….. 16 d. Public Response - Windrush scandal attempts to push out generation, only brings Londoners closer together …………………………………... 20 e. Stories Through Portraits: Windrushers 70th Anniversary………………………………………. 24 f. From Jamaica to London: the Story of Alfred …... 28 3. Website a. Website Design …………………………………… 31 4. Reflection a. Reflection Report ………………………………….. 33 5. Sources a. Oral Sources ……………………………………….. 40 b. Written/Literature Sources ………………………... 43 6. Miscellaneous a. Print out of electronic timeline …………………….. 46 Sara Maryniak and Cathal Charker 2 Introduction As a result of the losses during the Second World War, the British government began to encourage mass immigration from the colonies of the British Empire and Commonwealth to fill shortages in the labour market. The Windrush generation became those who migrated from the Caribbean between 1948 and the 1970’s.
    [Show full text]
  • VOL 36, ISSUE 3 on Race and Colonialism WELCOME to THIS EDITION of ANVIL
    ANVIL Journal of Theology and Mission Faultlines in Mission: Reflections VOL 36, ISSUE 3 on Race and Colonialism WELCOME TO THIS EDITION OF ANVIL ANVIL: Journal of Theology and Mission Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy VOL 36, ISSUE 3 2 ANVIL: JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY AND MISSION – VOLUME 36: ISSUE 3 THE EDITORIAL While it is premature to assess the legacy of this year in history, we can certainly agree that 2020 has brought to the fore the imperative need to revisit the past, paying particular attention to societal and systemic fractures adversely impacting the lives of many around the globe. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, millions of people took to the streets of our cities demanding radical change, and calling for the toppling of an old order and its symbols of power, objectification and commodification. This issue of Anvil is inspired by a willingness to Harvey Kwiyani’s article offers us a crystal-clear view of offer an introspective response to this global wave how white privilege and white supremacy have provided of protest calling for racial justice and asking with the buttresses for empire and have made mission in insistence whether black lives do indeed matter in our their own image. To illustrate this, he movingly weaves societies and institutions. It felt imperative to ask the his own story from his childhood in Malawi to living in question of Church Mission Society and its particular George Floyd’s city of Minneapolis to now forming part contribution to the subject both in its distant and more of the tiny minority of black and brown people who contemporary history.
    [Show full text]
  • Windrush Generation
    What? Why ? Take a moment to see if you can answer the 4 Ws Where? When? Genevieve Bent THE WINDRUSH GENERATION WHO ARE THEY, WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT, WHY DO THEY MATTER? WHO ARE THE WINDRUSH GENERATION? The Windrush Generation were a group of people, from the Caribbean, who were called by the British Government to work and live in the UK. They arrived in Tilbury, Essex, aboard the Empire Windrush, on 22nd June 1948. There were around 800 young Caribbean men and women; who all arrived with dreams and goals for their ‘Mother Country’. Genevieve Bent Genevieve Bent WHY DID THEY COME OVER? Up until the early 1960s, many of the Caribbean Islands (and countries in Africa, Asia and around the world) were under British Colonial rule. They were a part of the British Empire. The Caribbean was known as the British West Indies – which is where the term West Indian comes from. The Queen was the ‘Head of State’ for all these countries and in 1948, the 1948 British Nationality Act was passed, granting all members of the British Empire citizenship and the right to live in the UK. After two wars, and the recent end of WW2 in 1945, the UK needed to rebuild its country and economy. The British Government advertised opportunities for employment which attracted many people to leave the Caribbean for the UK. Genevieve Bent Genevieve Bent EMPIRE WINDRUSH HMT Empire Windrush was originally a cruise ship (called Monte-Rosa) used in Germany, in the 1930s and was also used as a transportation vessel in WW2.
    [Show full text]
  • Dear We Write to You Following Confirmation That the Home
    Thursday 26 November 2020 (by email and post) Dear Andrew Flintham, Managing Director, TUI UK and Ireland Antonio Mota, CEO, Evelop Airlines Gene Willson, Managing Director, Titan Airways Kurt Ekert, President and CEO, Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) Paulo Mirpuri, CEO, Hi Fly Phill Blundell, CEO, Air Tanker We write to you following confirmation that the Home Secretary Priti Patel is planning a mass deportation of Black British residents to Jamaica on the 2nd December 2020. We understand that your companies have recently worked with the UK Government to operate and facilitate charter flight removals from the UK and we have grounds to believe that one of your firms may be planning to operate the flight planned for 2nd December. We are writing to ask you to decline to operate the flight on the 2nd December and to pause the operation of deportation flights to Commonwealth countries for the foreseeable future. There are a number of important reasons why such flights are wholly inappropriate at this time and risk the unlawful and wrongful removal of people who have the right to remain in the UK. The Windrush scandal has not been resolved, and yesterday the Equality and Human Rights Commission concluded that the Government’s hostile environment policies breach equality laws and discriminate against Black people.1 Additionally, it has recently been revealed that Alexandra Ankrah, the most senior Black civil servant working on the Home Office’s Windrush compensation scheme has resigned, describing the scheme as systemically racist and unfit for purpose.2 These developments call into question the Home Office’s competency to deal with the continuing injustices it has created.
    [Show full text]
  • Brexit for BAME Britain Rabia Mirza Investigating the Impact Dr Irum Shehreen Ali
    November 2018 Kimberly McIntosh Brexit for BAME Britain Rabia Mirza Investigating the impact Dr Irum Shehreen Ali • BAME families are less likely to have savings, spend Summary and recommendations a greater share of their income overall and are less • The overall impact of Brexit on Black, Asian and able to weather economic hardships than white Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities will be families in the UK. This makes them sensitive to negative, both economically and for community changes to the price of goods post-Brexit. relations. • Despite assurances that ‘austerity is coming to • The government has a responsibility to lead by an end’, this is not the case. A further increase example. If British values include tolerance and of the personal tax allowance proposed in the fairness, then we expect to see a forward-looking, 2018 Budget will continue to benefit the richest positive and inclusive vision of Britain being the most. Overall public spending will remain at presented by our political leaders. This includes historic lows and proposed reforms will not undo economic policies that work for everyone and a public spending cuts since 2010. concerted stand against hate and division. • This will hit BAME people on low incomes and • BAME communities are in a triple bind: disabled people harder than any other groups. socioeconomically worse off than their white Now more than ever, working-age benefits need counterparts; blamed for economic insecurity and to be increased in line with the cost of living. ‘cultural change’; and, as a result, the main targets The government has not published its own of hate crime as visible minorities.
    [Show full text]
  • Windrush Scandal: Albert Thompson Still in Dark About Cancer Treatment Despite May's Promise | UK News | the Guardian
    20/04/2018 Windrush scandal: Albert Thompson still in dark about cancer treatment despite May's promise | UK news | The Guardian Windrush scandal: Albert Thompson still in dark about cancer treatment despite May's promise Londoner still has not received any appointment date for radiotherapy – or an apology Amelia Gentleman Thu 19 Apr 2018 20.44 BST Albert Thompson, the Londoner whose case has come to epitomise the Windrush scandal, has spoken of his anguish as he remains uncertain about whether he is to get radiotherapy for his cancer a day after he heard Theresa May announce on television that he would “be receiving the treatment he needs”. As the fallout from the scandal continued to emerge, Thompson told the Guardian he was distressed to have no clarity, and upset that he had had no apology from the Royal Marsden hospital for the ongoing interruption to his cancer treatment. Thompson (not his real name) received a brief call on Wednesday night from a consultant at the Royal Marsden telling him that he would receive an appointment letter in “two or three weeks’ time,” and asking him in to come in so he could have some blood tests. He was despondent about the cursory nature of the contact. “He didn’t mention anything about radiotherapy,” Thompson said, noting that the hospital did not appear to be treating his case as particularly urgent. He remains concerned that despite the https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/19/windrush-albert-thompson-cancer-treatment-theresa-may 1/3 20/04/2018 Windrush scandal: Albert Thompson still in dark about cancer treatment despite May's promise | UK news | The Guardian commitment from May that he was to receive treatment, the hospital seemed in no hurry to reschedule the 12-week series of daily radiotherapy sessions he was due to start last November, before he was told that he was not eligible for free treatment without proof that he was in the UK legally.
    [Show full text]
  • Generation Windrush: Diasporic Landscapes and Settlement
    Perspective Glob J Arch & Anthropol Volume 5 Issue 2 - July 2018 Copyright © All rights are reserved by David Howard DOI: 10.19080/GJAA.2018.05.555657 Generation Windrush: diasporic landscapes and settlement David Howard* Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, USA Submission: May 25, 2018; Published: July 02, 2018 *Corresponding author: David Howard, Associate Professor in Sustainable Urban Development, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, USA, Email: Keywords: Windrush; Landscapes; Settlement; Scandal; Industries; Migrants; Citizenship; Diaspora; Mobility; Bristling; Hostile Environment; Embodiment; Walking; Dignity; Tilbury Docks; Crackdown; Fleeting The Windrush scandal and subtle divergence [2]. The Windrush Generation’s In April 2018, the British government faced widespread contributions to the multiculturalism of British life today have public anger and outcry against, and later acknowledged, the been formative and striking [3,4]. Windrush writers and artists, mistreatment of hundreds of British Caribbean residents who had such as Sam Selvon & Linton Kwesi Johnson [5,6]- LKJ - have settled in the United Kingdom following the Second World War themselves generated a substantial oeuvre of Black British [1]. Migrants from the then British colonies in the Caribbean had writing and cultural energy that lies as much at the heart of been encouraged to cross the Atlantic by the British government British society, as do the economic contributions of the early and industriesand were offered work permits
    [Show full text]
  • Framing Immigration During the Brexit Campaign
    Unsustainable and Uncontrolled: Framing Immigration During the Brexit Campaign Jessica Van Horne A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Studies University of Washington 2018 Committee: Kathie Friedman, Chair Scott Fritzen Program Authorized to Offer Degree: International Studies – Jackson School © Copyright 2018 Jessica Van Horne University of Washington Abstract Unsustainable and Uncontrolled: Framing Immigration During the Brexit Campaign Jessica Marie Van Horne Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Kathie Friedman, Associate Professor International Studies The British vote to leave the European Union in 2016 came as a major surprise to politicians and scholars. Pre-referendum scholarship indicated that while British voters had concerns about cultural issues, such as identity and immigration, they would ultimately decide based on economic considerations. However, post-referendum voter surveys and scholarship showed that immigration was a key issue for many Leave and Undecided voters. This paper addresses why immigration was such a significant issue, and why it was so closely tied to leaving the EU, by discussing how the official campaigns and print media sources prioritized and characterized the issue. I argue that the relative prominence of immigration in media coverage, and the increased likelihood that newspapers would use Leave-associated frames, which also corresponded with pre-existing negative attitudes towards immigrants, contributed to immigration’s overall
    [Show full text]