A senior Church of England bishop has accused the British government of planning to engage in “trafficking” of people to Rwanda, as part of its efforts to stop people smugglers.
The bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who was the first black woman to serve as chaplain to the speaker in the House of Commons, told Sky news on Thursday: “We have to deal with them compassionately, we have to deal with them justly,” when asked about the backlog of asylum seekers’ claims
“If they are deemed not to be in the right place then we can have that discussions about what happens next, but don’t just pick them up and join in with those who are trafficking by then trafficking them to Rwanda.”
Hudson-Wilkins’s comments came as a Home Office minister said the prime minister had made “a start” on his commitment to “stop the boats”, after peers inflicted a total of 20 defeats against the government’s plans to tackle the small boats crisis.
The policing minister, Chris Philp, was speaking after members of the House of Lords recommended a series of further changes to the illegal migration bill, which aims to deport those arriving in the UK without permission.
“The prime minister made a very clear commitment last year to stop the boats. Those were his words and that is what he and the home secretary are working to deliver and they have made a start,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “The boat crossings this year are now down 20% this year and if we can get the Rwanda operationalised that will I think have quite a powerful deterrent effect.”
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, led one of the routs of the government in the House of Lords last night, with a cross-party demand for the government to draw up a 10-year strategy for collaborating internationally on the refugee crisis, the cause of unauthorised migration to the UK and human trafficking.
The cleric, who has been an outspoken critic of the reforms, argued it was meant to improve the bill and mitigate some of the concerns raised.
The defeats in the Lords increase the prospect of a prolonged standoff and “parliamentary ping-pong” between the upper chamber and the Commons over the legislation.
