THE Bishop of Southwark has further challenged the Government’s policy of deporting some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, and has pushed back against criticism of the stance taken by bishops in the House of Lords.
On Tuesday evening, the Bishop, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, countered the criticism that bishops opposing the deportation flights had not offered any alternatives, and suggested that “safe and legal routes” could be provided, which were currently “unavailable to those who wish to apply from countries such as Iran, Iraq and Eritrea”.
In an interview with Sky News on Tuesday morning, the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, had said that critics of the policy “don’t have an alternative about how we deal with this illegal migration”, and that the Government’s scheme was “effective and does work”.
In a letter published in The Times on Tuesday, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, along with the 23 other bishops who sit in the House of Lords, described the policy as “immoral” and said that it “should shame us as a nation” (News, 13 June).
In an interview with LBC Radio the same day, Ms Truss said that the Government was “treating people with fairness and compassion” and that she “didn’t agree” with the Bishops’ “assessment” of the policy.
The first scheduled flight to Rwanda was cancelled late on Tuesday, after a last-minute judgment from the European Court of Human Rights. Previous legal challenges had reduced the number of people on the flight from 37 to just three by the time it was called off.
On Wednesday afternoon, Bishop Chessun repeated the assertion that the policy was “immoral”. In questions to a Home Office minister in the House of Lords, he asked: “Is it not immoral that [those being deported] have had no consideration of their asylum claims, recognition of their medical or other needs, or attempts to understand their predicament, given that many are desperate people fleeing unspeakable horrors?”
Responding on behalf of the Government, Baroness Williams of Trafford said: “I think it is not moral to not do everything you can to prevent people drowning at sea or being delivered into the hands of criminals.”
The Government asserts that the primary purpose of the Rwanda policy is to deter human traffickers, who attempt to transport asylum-seekers across the English Channel in small boats.
Bishop Chessun also asked what consideration the Government had given to alternative routes. In France and Italy, he said, “Churches have played a prominent part” in establishing humanitarian corridors.
Baroness Williams replied: “It is perfectly legitimate to say that we should widen the safe and legal route so that literally anyone can come here, but we have to tailor our hospitality and our refuge to the people who need it most.”
She finished her response by thanking the Church for “the work it does in supporting those in need”.
Reports suggest that, behind closed doors, ministers are deeply unhappy with the intervention by the Bishops, and are considering constitutional changes that would reduce their political influence.
Tom Newton Dunn, a presenter on Talk TV, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening that ministers were talking about “expelling” bishops from the House of Lords.
“Only Iran also has clerics that sit in their legislature,” a minister allegedly said, insisting that “they’ll go.”