Justin Welby leads UK faith leaders in criticism of immigration bill

[ad_1]

Receive Free UK Immigration Updates

Well, send yourself a myFT Daily Digest email every morning with the latest UK immigration news.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will join other faith leaders on Wednesday in criticizing Rishi Sunak’s landmark Illegal Migration Bill, legislation that has already been breached in the House of Lords.

Welby will urge Sunak to develop an asylum system based on justice and compassion. He said he and other religious leaders were united in our concern for people seeking refuge.

The Archbishop, who sits in the upper house of the British parliament, will propose an amendment to the bill calling on the government to develop a long-term strategy to tackle the refugee crisis and human trafficking.

We unite to call on the government to honor our obligations to the world’s most vulnerable people, Welby said. The amendment I have tabled to the Illegal Migration Bill aims to focus our efforts on this objective.

The intervention comes as the Lords prepare for debate at final report stage on the bill, which toughens the UK asylum system and allows people who arrive by irregular means to be deported to Rwanda.

The Rwandan policy was ruled illegal by the Court of Appeal last month; he argued that the East African nation was not a safe third country in which asylum claims could be processed.

Sunak has insisted that Rwanda is safe and will take its case to the UK Supreme Court, but the Illegal Migration Bill has also faced strong opposition from the Lords.

The bill suffered a string of defeats last week and on Monday, with peers voting to insert amendments that would give extra protections to children and pregnant women and introduce modern safeguards against slavery.

Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, is expected to explain on Thursday how the government intends to proceed, with MPs likely to be asked to overturn most or all of the Lords’ amendments.

This could lead to a protracted fight between the House of Commons and the Lords known as a parliamentary ping-pong in which MPs can constitutionally prevail, but only after prolonged debate and greater public scrutiny.

Sunak believes the public supports a tough approach to people arriving in Britain by irregular means and has made stopping boats one of his five policy goals.

Church leaders lend their support to the Welbys Amendment in a letter to the Times newspaper in which they say the bill fails the basic test of an evidence-based and workable policy.

The letter is signed by Welby, with Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York; Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham; Anthony Cotterill, territorial commander of the Salvation Army; Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy; Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain; Lord Indarjit Singh, Director of the Network of Sikh Organizations in the UK; Imam Qari Asim of the Makkah Mosque in Leeds and Imam Sayed Razawi.

[ad_2]