Ministers have come under increasing pressure to say whether they will drop promises to implement major reforms made after the Windrush scandal. Stepping in for the home secretary, Suella Braverman, the junior Home Office minister Sarah Dines faced pressure from MPs across the house after telling the Commons she would not comment “on speculation in the Guardian”. It follows a report last week that said the home secretary had dropped a pledge to create the post of a migrants’ commissioner, and a promise to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI). The recommendations were accepted three years ago by the government after a formal inquiry by Wendy Williams examined the scandal under which the Home Office erroneously classified legal residents, many of whom arrived from Caribbean countries as children in the 1950s and 1960s, as immigrants living in the UK illegally. At an urgent question submitted by Labour, the former Conservative Home Office minister Kevin Foster demanded to know whether the government would keep the promise made by the former home secretary Priti Patel and implement all of Williams’ recommendations. “It was very clear certainly from the right honourable member for Witham [Patel] the government was absolutely committed to putting all [the recommendations] in place to rebuild confidence of the Windrush generation. Could she reassure me that that commitment still exists and will be taken forward?” he said. Dines replied: “I suggest the commitment is there for many to see. But clearly there is still much work to be done.” Those affected by the scandal expressed dismay at reports of plans to drop some of the reform measures. Michael Braithwaite, who lost his job as a special needs assistant at the primary school where he had worked for more than 15 years after being classified in 2017 as an “illegal immigrant”, said: “It hit my heart in a bad way. There were a lot of very positive recommendations in that report, but they seem to be watering and watering them down. We feel like we have been put on the backburner, as the government drags its heels on this.” Braithwaite arrived with his family from Barbados in 1961, aged eight, and was wrongly accused of being an immigration offender after 50 years in the UK. “It makes me sad to think of the Windrush generation people who have died before getting justice. There are at least 21 of them. Some people feel really beaten by this,” he said. Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said it was “very worrying” that the government was reportedly planning not to take forward the recommendations around the migrants commissioner or the recommendations about the extension of the powers of the independent inspector of borders and immigration. She pointed out that David Neal, the immigration inspector, was the only inspector in government who could not publish his reports without the permission of the Home Office. Johnson asked: “Can the minister just confirm today that the particular recommendations around the independent inspector of borders and immigration will be taken forward quickly by the government?” Dines shook her head and replied: “Let’s wait a modest amount of time to see what the government actually does. We must judge the government’s record on delivery. Not on speculation in the Guardian.” The SNP MP Stuart McDonald asked the minister to confirm that there would be a migrants’ commissioner and when that would be. Dines said: “That’s an issue which I’ll have to write back to you in relation to the timings. But … I can reassure you there is a huge commitment here.” A source later confirmed that she was referring to a “huge commitment” to the Windrush generation. The shadow Home Office minister Stephen Kinnock described the government’s treatment of the Windrush generation as “surely one of the most shameful episodes in our postwar political history”. “Will the minister tell me today, given that Wendy Williams is saying that only eight of the recommendations have been implemented, how many of the Williams recommendations have been implemented?” he said. Dines replied: “He knows that the government does not comment in relation to leaks, but what I can say is that we have matched the scale of Wendy’s challenge with the scale of our ambition and delivery.” In a further development, Floella Benjamin, the chair of the Windrush commemoration committee, has written to Rishi Sunak saying that any move to drop promises made in the aftermath of the scandal would be “wicked, vindictive and heartless”. Referring to the Guardian report, she said the government had a responsibility to honour and commemorate the role of the Windrush generation, 75 years after the arrival of the ship bearing the same name. “If what I am hearing is true, that the now home secretary has decided to renege on those promises, it will be seen as disrespectful to the Windrush community, especially in this important year, as well as being wicked, vindictive and heartless. “I was pleased to hear you say in your address when you were elected prime minister, a day of historic relevance, that you wanted to govern with trust and integrity. If this is the case, I hope you and your ministers will review any decision to abandon any ideas of not fulfilling the Wendy Williams’ recommendations,” she said. The Express also reported on Saturday that Braverman was planning to scrap a promise by Theresa May to create a commissioner for migrants who would act as a champion for migrants coming to the UK. The Conservative MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith, told the newspaper Braverman was right to distance herself from some of Williams’ recommendations. “Windrush stuff and general policy on migration shouldn’t be confused and she’s right to distance herself from it,” he reportedly said.