Keir Starmer’s most generous union backer has joined faith leaders in a stark warning to Yvette Cooper, cautioning that new rules refusing citizenship to refugees who arrive in small boats will “breed division and distrust” and could fuel attacks on migrant hotels.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, is among 148 signatories of a letter addressing these concerns. Alongside her, nine Church of England bishops, including Rose Hudson-Wilkin—the bishop of Dover and the C of E’s first black female bishop—and eight lord bishops from Southwark, Manchester, Gloucester, Leicester, and others, have united to challenge the home secretary’s plan. They argue that barring naturalization for anyone who has made a dangerous journey will label tens of thousands of people “second-class citizens” and risk inciting further social strife, according to the Guardian.
