HOME Secretary Amber Rudd yesterday insisted she had no evidence of accidental deportation in the Windrush Generation scandal – hours after Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said otherwise.

Appearing before MPs, Rudd apologised for the UK Government’s handling of the row, which has seen people who came to the UK as children given deportation threats.

Many of those affected – who arrived as Commonwealth citizens in a wave of immigration 70 years ago aimed at post-war reconstruction – had never doubted their immigration status and regard themselves as British.

Yesterday, Nokes told Channel 4 News that some had “potentially” been deported to the Caribbean “in error” and informed ITV News that “we’ll have no more of this”.

But when pressed for answers by MPs, Rudd said she was “not aware of any person being removed in these circumstances”, telling politicians to report any cases they know of to the Home Office.

The comments came after Labour MP David Lammy tabled an urgent question on the situation following reports of people being denied healthcare and cut off from support – despite paying into the UK through work and taxes for decades.

The Tottenham MP said the relationship between the UK and the Caribbean was “inextricable”, and that 25,000 people from the region had served in the First and Second World Wars “despite slavery, despite colonisation” by the British.

Hitting out at “far-right rhetoric”, he insisted Rudd “should know” how many people had been wrongly made to return to their countries of origin. He told the Commons: “It has come about because of a hostile environment policy that was begun under her Prime Minister.

“Let us call it as it is; if you lay down with dogs, you get fleas, and that is what has happened with this far-right rhetoric in this country.”

Announcing the establishment of a dedicated team to handle Windrush cases, Rudd said she would ask the High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries if they have information on deportations.

Apologising, she said: “I do not want any of the Commonwealth citizens who are here legally to be impacted in the way they have.

“Frankly, some of the ways they have been treated has been wrong, has been appalling and I am sorry.

“That’s why I am setting up a new area in my department to ensure that we have a completely new approach to how their situation is regularised.”

Rudd said no charges would be levied on those affected and help would be provided to anyone trying to prove their right to stay in the UK.

The SNP’s Joanna Cherry cited figures from the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, which suggested as many as 50,000 people may be affected.

However, Rudd said “we don’t know” the true number.

Fellow Tory Anna Soubry criticised Rudd’s team and suggested its problems on immigration were bigger than Windrush. Soubry said: “Her officials, unfortunately, have a default position of ‘no’. It is about generations over centuries that have contributed in a positive way.”

Birmingham Northfield MP Richard Burden said one of his constituents – a former Grenadier Guard born to Polish refugee parents in another Commonwealth country – had also been affected. Soubry pledged to look into this case and acknowledged the strength of feeling in the chamber. She added: “I am concerned that the Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy, and sometimes lose sight of the individual.

“This is about individuals, and we have seen the individual stories, and they have been, some of them, terrible to hear. That is why I have acted.”

Glasgow SNP councillor Graham Campbell, whose mother emigrated from Grenada to England in 1960, accused the Westminster Government of “racist, draconian” actions.

He said: “Think of all those who have spent their entire lives living and working in Britain and paying taxes only to be denied rights they have earned.”

The scandal has played out as Commonwealth leaders travelled to London for a major summit. Prime Minister Theresa May will discuss the issue with them today.