‘I’ve been here for 50 years’: the scandal of the former Commonwealth citizens threatened with deportation

They have lived nearly all their lives in the UK, working and paying taxes. But in the draconian new immigration climate, an increasing number of elderly people are being told that they are here illegally

For the past year, Renford McIntyre has been homeless, mostly sleeping on a sofa in an unheated industrial unit in Dudley. Although he has lived in the UK for almost 50 years, and spent 35 years working and paying taxes as a tool setter, a delivery man in the meat industry and an NHS driver, he has been told that he is not British - and consequently is neither permitted to work nor eligible for any government support.

McIntyre, 64, has no shower and nowhere to cook, and has to visit friends if he wants to eat hot food or wash. "It's an appalling place to live. I'm a proud man; I'm embarrassed at my age to be living like this," he says.