UK religious leaders urge Mahmood to ‘slow down and rethink’ refugee plans

In a letter to the Guardian, the religious leaders urged the home secretary to ‘pause, listen and revise’ the plans. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Religious leaders have said that plans to rip up the UK’s asylum rules by ending the right to permanent refugee status would damage integration and should be rethought.

A group, which includes seven bishops, three rabbis and an imam, said they had “grave concerns” about Shabana Mahmood’s proposed changes to settlement and citizenship rules.