Windrush 75: Special Report on Commonwealth Immigration into Britain (1965) | Political History

Today is Windrush Day, marking 75 years since the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush in Tilbury Docks.

We’ve gone through the archive to find clips that tell the story the people of Windrush, their impact on British society, and the struggles successive generations of Commonwealth citizens faced in post-war Britain.

Here, we present a 17-minute special report broadcast by ITN in February 1965, when the Labour government of Harold Wilson was looking to limit immigration from the Commonwealth countries. In the 17 years since the arrival of the Empire Windrush, continued immigration had become a political football in British public discourse. The Conservative government of Harold MacMillan sought to win votes by restricting Commonwealth immigration, passing the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962. Harold Wilson’s Labour Party opposed the restrictions, but the same election that brought Labour to power in 1964 also showed widespread support for tighter immigration controls. In 1965, the Wilson government began looking for ways to further restrict numbers of Commonwealth citizens being admitted into Britain.

A warning: This video contains outdated terminology used to describe people belonging to a range of ethnic minorities. The language is used in a journalistic context and is presented as originally broadcast for educational purposes.

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