Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

UK immigration laws from 1950 to 1981 were designed in part to "reduce the number of non-whites in UK: report

A leaked government paper has revealed that ‘racist immigration legislation' over 30 years, framed to reduce the UK's non-white population, led to the Windrush scandal, according to a media report.

UK immigration laws from 1950 to 1981 were designed in part to "reduce the number of non-whites in UK: report

A leaked government paper has revealed that 'racist immigration legislation' over 30 years, framed to reduce the UK’s non-white population, led to the Windrush scandal, according to a media report. 

The 52-page analysis, in a Home Office commissioned paper, by an unnamed historian, describes how “the British Empire depended on racist ideology in order to function”, and sets out how this affected the laws passed in the postwar period, The Guardian reported.


Every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK from 1950 to 1981, the report concluded.

According to the report, the Windrush scandal was caused by a failure to recognise that changes to British immigration law over the past 70 years had a more negative impact on black people than on other racial and ethnic groups.

Major immigration legislation in 1962, 1968 and 1971 was designed to reduce the proportion of people living in the UK who did not have white skin, it further said.

Diane Abbott MP, who attempted without success to have the paper released through the home affairs select committee, said the Home Office appeared to be “unwilling to acknowledge the racism that has disfigured British immigration policy for decades”.

The report was commissioned as part of a commitment to educating civil servants about the causes of the Windrush scandal, which saw thousands of people wrongly classified as illegal immigrants by the department.

After the scandal, ministers agreed to teach all 35,000 Home Office employees about Britain’s colonial history and the history of black Britons.

The report, titled “The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal”, focuses on the immigration legislation of the 20th century.

The unnamed Home Office historian writes: “The British Empire depended on racist ideology in order to function, which in turn produced legislation aimed at keeping racial and ethnic groups apart … From the beginning, concern about Commonwealth immigration was about skin colour.”

In the 1950s, British officials shared a “basic assumption that ‘coloured immigrants’, as they were referred to, were not good for British society,” the report stated.

Wendy Williams, the independent inspector advising the Home Office on what changes to make after Windrush, earlier said that she was “disappointed” the report had not been published a year after officials had signed off on it.

It has been made available to staff internally, but requests for it to be made public have been repeatedly rejected.

A freedom of information request about the document was refused.

According to The Guardian, immigration historians said it was peculiar to suppress a work of history that was funded by the taxpayer.

Simon Woolley, the former CEO of Operation Black Vote and chair of the No 10 race disparity unit, said the refusal to make the report public was “shameful”.

The report also cites a letter from the prime minister of the Federation of the West Indies, Sir Grantley Adams, to the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan. Sir Grantley protested that “Britain has begun to take steps which are no different in kind to the basis on which the system of apartheid in South Africa is based” by introducing the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act.

Juanita Cox, a research fellow with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, working on a Windrush scandal research project, told the newspaper: “If they admitted the Home Office’s legislation pre-1981 was institutionally racist, current legislation might also come under scrutiny and be found to be even worse. Britain’s immigration system is at complete odds with the proud image it portrays of welcoming immigrants.”

A Home Office spokesperson said the department would not name the historian who wrote the history.

More For You

Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal recalled that in February, Narendra Modi and Donald Trump had instructed their trade ministers to conclude the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by November 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Trade talks with US moving forward positively, says Indian minister Goyal

INDIA’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that negotiations on the proposed trade agreement between India and the United States, which began in March, are progressing in a positive atmosphere and both sides are satisfied with the discussions.

He recalled that in February, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and US president Donald Trump had instructed their trade ministers to conclude the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by November 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less
West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police said they were called just before 08:30 BST on Tuesday, September 9, after the woman reported being attacked by two men near Tame Road. (Representational image: iStock)

Woman raped in racially aggravated attack in Oldbury

A WOMAN in her 20s was raped in Oldbury in what police are treating as a racially aggravated attack.

West Midlands Police said they were called just before 08:30 BST on Tuesday, September 9, after the woman reported being attacked by two men near Tame Road. Officers said the men made a racist remark during the incident.

Keep ReadingShow less
Baiju Bhatt

At 40, Bhatt is the only person of Indian origin in this group, which includes figures such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. (Photo: Getty Images)

Baiju Bhatt named among youngest billionaires in US by Forbes

INDIAN-AMERICAN entrepreneur Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of the commission-free trading platform Robinhood, has been named among the 10 youngest billionaires in the United States in the 2025 Forbes 400 list.

At 40, Bhatt is the only person of Indian origin in this group, which includes figures such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Forbes estimates his net worth at around USD 6–7 billion (£4.4–5.1 billion), primarily from his roughly 6 per cent ownership in Robinhood.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mandelson-Getty

Starmer dismissed Mandelson on Thursday after reading emails published by Bloomberg in which Mandelson defended Jeffrey Epstein following his 2008 conviction. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Minister says Mandelson should never have been appointed

A CABINET minister has said Peter Mandelson should not have been made UK ambassador to the US, as criticism mounted over prime minister Keir Starmer’s judgment in appointing him.

Douglas Alexander, the Scotland secretary, told the BBC that Mandelson’s appointment was seen as “high-risk, high-reward” but that newly revealed emails changed the situation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Shivani Raja MP leads fight to save Leicester Diwali celebrations

Shivani Raja MP

Shivani Raja MP leads fight to save Leicester Diwali celebrations

TWO Conservative MPs have launched a petition to stop Leicester City Council cutting back this year's Diwali celebrations.

Shivani Raja, MP for Leicester East, and Neil O'Brien, who represents nearby Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, started the Change.org petition on Wednesday (10) after the council announced plans to remove key elements from the October 20 event.

Keep ReadingShow less