The Archbishop of Canterbury took aim at the Government’s immigration policy again today as peers began their attempt to water down a new law to tackle Channel boat arrivals.
Justin Welby used a rare speech in the House of Lords to attack the Illegal Immigration Bill, which would make it easier to deport people arriving on the UK’s shores.
He told the upper chamber the law ‘fails to live up to our history, our moral responsibility, and our political and international interests’, and said he would personally table an amendment.
Ahead of the legislation returning to the red benches, Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk today urged peers not to stand in the way of the ‘will of the British people’ by blocking the UK Government‘s migration policies.
The Archbishop, who crowned Charles III on Saturday, told the chamber that a new law was needed to stop the boats and end the role of ‘evil’ traffickers.
But he added: ‘We need a Bill to reform migration. We need a Bill to stop the boats. We need a Bill to destroy the evil tribe of traffickers. The tragedy is that without much change this is not that Bill.’
The intervention is his second major rebuke of the Government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers.
Justin Welby used a rare speech in the House of Lords to attack the Illegal Immigration Bill, which would make it easier to deport people arriving on the UK’s shores.
The bill is aimed at ensuring people who arrive in the UK in small boats would be detained and promptly removed, either to their home country or a third country such as Rwanda. Migrants are pictured arriving in small boats last month
Ahead of the legislation returning to the red benches, Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk today urged peers not to stand in the way of the ‘will of the British people’ by blocking the UK Government’s migration policies.
The Archbishop, in a speech to the Lords last year, warned against ‘harmful rhetoric’ that treats those arriving in the UK as ‘invaders’.
He has previously called for a better system based on ‘compassion, justice and co-operation across frontiers’.
This afternoon he highlighted the existing global agreements on refugees, saying: ‘While now inadequate, what those conventions offer is a baseline from which to build a globally shared understanding of what protection must be given to refugees.
‘They are not inconvenient obstructions to get round by any legislative means necessary.’
He added: ‘Even if this Bill succeeded in temporarily stopping the boats, and I don’t think it will, it won’t stop conflict or climate migration.’
A spokesman for the Prime Minister responded by saying that Mr Sunak ‘does not believe it is compassionate or fair to allow people to jump queue ahead of vulnerable people coming on safe and legal routes’.
The Bill includes provisions that would limit the ability of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent the deportation of asylum seekers.
The clampdown has been prompted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to ‘stop the boats’ bringing migrants across the English Channel.
It comes as more than 6,000 migrants have been detected crossing the channel so far in 2023.
At least 260 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel last weekend while the rest of the country celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III, according to official figures.
On Saturday and Sunday the Home Office recorded 269 migrant arrivals into the UK.
The Archbishop, who crowned Charles III on Saturday, told the chamber that a new law was needed to stop the boats and end the role of ‘evil’ traffickers. But he added: ‘The tragedy is that without much change, this is not that bill.’
The latest arrivals were seen on Monday morning after being rescued by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel.
The group of adults and small children, all thought to be migrants, were seen wearing life jackets and disembarking in Dover.
Writing jointly for Times Red Box, Mrs Braverman and Mr Chalk said: ‘We urge the House of Lords to look at the Illegal Migration Bill carefully, remember it is designed to meet the will of the British people in a humane and fair way, and back the Bill.’
But in a rare parliamentary move, Liberal Democrat Lord Paddick, a former senior police officer, has proposed a so-called fatal motion to the proposed legislation, aimed at stopping it in its tracks at its first Lords hurdle.
His amendment argues the draft legislation would see Britain fail to meet its international law commitments, allow ministers to ignore the directions of judges and undermine ‘the UK’s tradition of providing sanctuary to refugees’, while failing to tackle the backlog of asylum cases or people smuggling gangs.
However, the blocking bid is destined to fail without the backing of the main opposition.
A Labour source said: ‘We’re not supporting the motion. If successful, which they never are, the Government could just Parliament Act the Bill in the next King’s Speech and peers would lose the opportunity to make any amendments.
‘It is therefore an irresponsible way to deal with legislation that has already gone through the the elected House.’
