The Archbishop of Canterbury denounced Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s immigration legislation as “morally unacceptable” and a threat to the UK’s reputation, in an unusually blunt rebuke against a key government policy by England’s top religious leader.
Archbishop Justin Welby used his status as a member of the the House of Lords to criticize the bill, which Sunak has put forward to slow a surge in migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. Provisions include sending people who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda and banning them from ever claiming asylum or citizenship in Britain.
“This bill fails utterly to take a long-term and strategic view of the challenges of migration,” Welby told the upper chamber, just days after crowning King Charles III in a ceremony watched by millions around the world. “It is morally unacceptable and politically impractical to let the poorest countries deal with the crisis alone and cut our international aid.”
The UK has seen a surge in people making the often dangerous journey across the channel, with some 45,000 arrivals reported last year. The issue has undermined the government’s claims that it has got control over the country’s borders, a key argument for the decision to leave the European Union.
Sunak has made a vow to “stop the boats” one of his five core pledges as he tries to shore up the ruling Conservative Party’s base before an election expected to be held next year. But the proposal faces widespread criticism from human rights advocates and even some high-profile Tories, such as former Prime Minister Theresa May.
The Illegal Migration Bill cleared the the House of Commons last month, despite vocal opposition from members of all main parties. The legislation could still be amended by the unelected peers who sit in the Lords, before returning to the lower chamber for final approval.
While Welby previously condemned Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s rhetoric on migration, it was unusual for the archbishop to weigh in on a political proposal so overtly. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick called Welby’s remarks “wrong” and said that the government intended the plans to have a “serious deterrent effect” on migrants.
“There’s nothing moral about allowing the pernicious trade of people smugglers to continue,” Jenrick told BBC radio. “I disagree with him respectfully. By bringing forward this proposal we make it clear that if you come across illegally on a small boat you will not find a route to life in the UK.”
Under the government’s proposals, the UK would limit the ability of the European Court of Human Rights to prevent or slow the deportation of asylum seekers. Critics argue the plans break international law and threaten modern slavery protections.
A plan to immediately kill the bill in the upper chamber was unlikely to succeed after the main opposition Labour Party said it would oppose a so-called fatal motion proposed by Liberal Democrat peer Brian Paddick. He had argued the legislation undermined the “UK’s tradition of providing sanctuary to refugees.”
Welby said he backed changes to provide greater protections for arrivals and facilitate more safe and legal routes to claim asylum in the UK. He pledged to put forward amendments to encourage the UK to work with international partners to tackle migration.
“There must be safe legal routes put in place as soon as illegal, unsafe routes begin to be attacked,” Welby said. The bill contained no measures “for engaging with the criminal gangs of traffickers directly and offensively rather than tapping into simply what appears to be the unpredictability of market forces, as if traffickers were rationally trained economic actors and not appalling criminals,” he said.