The government’s notorious hostile environment policy is partly to blame for the lack of coronavirus vaccination uptake among Black and Asian groups, MP Diane Abbott has said. 

The former shadow home secretary was speaking to BBC Radio 4′s World At One about the low vaccination rate in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, where 45% of people are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Recent research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found white people were twice as likely to have been vaccinated than Black people.

Abbott said: “The whole hostile environment policy has created a situation where people are sceptical about authority, even when they have an absolute legal right to be here.

“The government was warned about the hostile environment, that it would cause problems when you had epidemics – exactly this type of issue where you want whole population compliance, but because of the hostile environment, some of the population don’t want to go to doctors or their local authority.”

The hostile environment is a set of immigration policies introduced in 2012 by then home secretary Theresa May with the intention of making life in the UK difficult for people who were here without a legal right.

As well as cutting off people’s ability to access healthcare, education and work, it also led to the wrongful deportation of Windrush-era migrants whose paperwork had been destroyed and who thus could not “prove” they had the right to live and work in Britain.

The John Scott vaccination centre in Hackney closed early three times last week due to a reluctance among residents to receive the jab. 

Even though it is open to patients from 40 GP practices across both Hackney and the City of London, the centre said it had “really low patient uptake”, The Times reported.

Abbott added: “I’m afraid this is one of the consequences of a hostile environment and the government is belatedly recognising it. I think the hostile environment has partly contributed to people of colour and their scepticism about authority and their worry about making themselves known to authorities, even when it’s in their best interests to have the vaccine.” 

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the approach for making the case for jabs was not to “force it down people’s throats” but instead share information and explain how it is safe.

Jun Pang, policy and campaigns officer at human rights campaign group Liberty, has also referred to the continued existence of a hostile environment that “runs so deep that many still won’t trust this initiative”.

Pang said: “It’s good the government has recognised that having a two-tier health system – which is rigged to help some while shutting others out – is incompatible with public health.

“We should all be able to access healthcare when we need it, but for many the hostile environment still blocks them from doing that. This pandemic has shown how much we depend on each other. No matter what our background, we will only move past this crisis by protecting each other.

“If the government is serious about ensuring everyone can get a Covid vaccine then it will end the entire hostile environment for good, and commit to implementing a data shield between essential public services and immigration enforcement. That is the only way to ensure people can access the healthcare they need without the fear and risk of being detained and deported as a result.”

The government has said anyone in the country illegally will not face repercussions for coming forward for the jab.