May 05, 2018

The U.K.’s 'compliant environment' is handed over to Sajid Javid

located:	United Kingdom
editor:	Shira Jeczmien

A mere six hours after he was appointed the U.K.’s new Home Secretary on Monday May 1, Sajid Javid spoke out against the Prime Minister’s rhetoric of creating a “hostile” environment for immigrants in the country.

Championed by May during the six years of her Home Office tenure and continued by her recent predecessor, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, “the compliant environment” refers to an aggressive agenda that means “illegal and would-be illegal immigrants and the public more widely, need to know that our immigration system has ‘teeth’, and that if people do not comply on their own, we will enforce their return, including arresting and detaining them.” This private message from Rudd to the PM was obtained and published by The Guardian.

But when it came to publically standing behind her Home Office harsh immigration targets – the “ambition but deliverable” deportation goals she had increased herself since her appointment to the seat in July 2016 – Rudd was less coherent. Amidst the wake of the Windrush scandal and with that the public insight into the mistreating of thousands of legal immigrants who have lived in the country for decades, Rudd announced her resignation Monday.

The question now remains, will Javid remain true to his contentions of prior Home Office conducts and culture earlier this week, and will he be able to maintain his poise in a seat that has seen politicians snap and resign? Before the Windrush scandal broke out, Rudd was one of the promising members of her party – seemingly unwavering. And will his black, Asian, and minority ethnic background (BAME), the first to ever take the seat of Home Secretary, help restore a lost sense of dignity in the treatment of immigrants in the country – be they legal or otherwise.

In one of her final statements to Parliament and as a response to Labour MP’s David Lamming’s poignant recognition of the “national shame” the Home Office has brought to the U.K., Rudd confessed that she and the Home Office had “lost sight of the individual” while occupied with “policy and strategy”.

Javid’s task as the newly appointed Home Secretary is to guarantee those affected by the Windrush scandal – approximately 50,000 individuals – have their rights restored, their access to public services secured and compensated for the inhumane treatment they have endured from the country. It is essential this scandal is not forgotten amid the political chaos of the fifth resignation and replacement in May’s cabinet. And most crucially, that Javid’s every step is followed closely by the media and public to make sure nothing like this reoccurs. We need to guarantee that Rudd's and May's "hostile" environment is eliminated, not reinforced under different synonyms.