Bishops blame ministers for creating 'boom market' for small boats migrant traffickers
1 July 2023, 18:03 | Updated: 1 July 2023, 18:05
Church of England bishops have blamed the government for the small boats crisis, claiming ministers are creating 'perverse incentives' for criminal traffickers.
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In a briefing paper for MPs seen by the Mail on Sunday, the Church's Mission and Public Affairs Council wrote that the government's pledge to stop the boats fails to recognise "human dignity".
The bishops added in a submission to the House of Commons' Home Affairs committee: "The increasing securitisation makes the routes by sea riskier, and the profits for traffickers correspondingly higher.
"Far from creating deterrence, the UK’s approach is creating a boom market for criminal enterprises."
The Church of England's latest intervention comes days after the government's Rwanda plan was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal.
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Senior judges ruled that Rwanda is not a 'safe country' to receive asylum seekers from the UK.
The nation has been criticised for its human rights record, which include crackdowns on the government's political opponents, so-called "enforced disappearances" and members of the LGBT community.
The House of Lords is currently considering Rishi Sunak's Illegal Migration Bill, which states that all migrants arriving by "irregular means" can be forcibly removed to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed.
If successful, asylum seekers will be offered permanent residency in the central African country, with no option to return to the UK.
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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said the Rwanda plan is 'ungodly'.
In his Easter address last year, the Church's most senior clergyman said: "Let Christ prevail. Let the darkness of war be banished.
"And this season is also why there are such serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas.
"The details are for politics. The principle must stand the judgment of God, and it cannot."
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