Rwandan plan is ungodly, says Welby
Archbishop criticises PM’s refugee policy as second country proposes similar deal
BORIS JOHNSON’S plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda goes against Christian values, the Archbishop of Canterbury will say today.
The Most Rev Justin Welby will use this morning’s Easter sermon to criticise Downing Street after the Government announced that refugees who reach the UK by illicit means will be given a one-way ticket to East Africa.
The Archbishop will say the policy raises “serious ethical questions” and cannot “stand the judgement of God” or “carry the weight of our national responsibility as a country formed by Christian values”.
The intervention comes after criticism from human rights organisations and the United Nations, but broad support from Tory MPs, who have long bemoaned that the Government was not doing enough to stop small boats crossing the Channel.
The first migrants are expected to leave for Rwanda next month, although Home Office sources warned they could be held up by legal challenges.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that at least one other country has contacted the Government to explore a similar deal to the one with Rwanda, which involves Britain giving economic support in exchange for handling refugees.
Under the plans, refugees who are approved in Rwanda will then be allowed to stay rather than being repatriated to the UK. Rejected applicants will be deported.
In his Easter address at Canterbury Cathedral this morning, the Archbishop is expected to say he has “serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas”.
“The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot,” he will say. “It cannot carry the weight of resurrection justice, of life conquering death. It cannot carry the weight of the resurrection that was first to the least valued, for it privileges the rich and strong.
“And it cannot carry the weight of our national responsibility as a country formed by Christian values, because sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said last night that the UK “had a proud history of supporting those in need of protection”. She added: “However, the world is facing a global migration crisis and change is needed to prevent vile people smugglers putting lives at risk.”
It marks the latest in a series of interventions by the Archbishop over government policy. In 2020, he used a Telegraph article to denounce Mr Johnson for “determining the daily details of our lives” by imposing a “rule of six” on household mixing. Last December, he
‘I think it’s a way of getting rid of people the Government doesn’t want, dumping them in a distant African country’
said political leaders must “put their hands up” and “acknowledge where things have gone wrong”, as he spoke of his “disappointment” over gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown.
In his own Easter message, Mr Johnson will read a Bible passage in Ukrainian to show his support for those suffering after the Russian invasion.
“Be strong and have courage in your heart, all you who trust in the Lord,” he will say in Ukrainian, adding in English: “The triumph of life over death and good over evil will resonate this year perhaps more than any other.” Ministers have stressed that the purpose of the Rwandan “offshoring” policy is to deter criminal gangs from sending migrants across the Channel in small boats that often sink, drowning their passengers.
“The ideal number of people being sent to Rwanda in two years’ time is zero,” a Home Office source said, adding that while the plan will “obviously” be challenged in the courts, ministers are confident it is legally watertight.
The Ministry of Defence said 181 migrants crossed to the UK on six boats yesterday, with more expected during the good weather over the Easter weekend. The latest figures bring the total who have been brought ashore this year to more than 6,000, with 3,066 people crossing in March alone.
That total is nearly four times the number recorded for the same month in 2021 and more than 16 times the number in March 2020.
On Friday the Home Office confirmed that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, was forced to issue a “ministerial direction” over the Rwanda policy after civil servants objected to it on cost grounds.
In a letter published last night, Matthew Rycroft, the Home Office permanent secretary, said: “Evidence of a
deterrent effect is highly uncertain and cannot be quantified with sufficient certainty to provide me with the necessary level of assurance over value for money.
“I do not believe sufficient evidence can be obtained to demonstrate that the policy will have a deterrent effect significant enough to make the policy value for money.”
Ms Patel replied that it would be “imprudent…to delay delivery of a policy that we believe will reduce illegal migration, save lives, and ultimately break the business model of the smuggling gangs”.
On Wednesday MPs will vote on Lords amendments to the Nationality and Borders Bill, which includes measures to make it more difficult for lawyers to challenge the deportation of illegal migrants.
It is thought that if the bill is not given Royal Assent by the time the Home Office has drawn up a list of refugees eligible to be sent to Rwanda, the policy could be delayed further.
Lord Dubs, a Labour peer, said ministers will also face opposition in the House of Lords over the scheme.
“I think it’s a way of getting rid of people the Government doesn’t want, dumping them in a distant African country, and they’ll have no chance of getting out of there again,” he said.
“I think it’s a breach of the 1951 Geneva Conventions on refugees. You can’t just shunt them around like unwanted people.”