Archbishop of Canterbury demands changes that could sink Sunak's Rwanda Bill

31 January 2024 , 14:37

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has put his name to 11 amendments to the Rwanda Bill (Image: AP)

The Archbishop of Canterbury has demanded sweeping changes to Rishi Sunak's Rwanda Bill that could effectively torpedo it.

Archbishop Justin Welby, along with former Supreme Court President Baroness Hale and Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti, say no asylum seekers should be sent to Rwanda until the UN Human Rights Commissioner declares it safe. Just a fortnight ago the commissioner, Filippo Grandi, accused the UK of "responsibility shifting" and said it would be acting illegally if it goes ahead.

The trio have put forward 11 amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which is making its way through the House of Lords. They also called for it to be changed to ensure injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights aren't ignored.

Their intervention deepens the Government's crisis over the controversial deportation project, which has so far seen £240million handed to Rwanda, with a further £50million due in April. On Monday the Archbishop warned peers the Bill is "leading the nation down a dangerous path".

Home Secretary James Cleverly admitted the number sent to Rwanda could be 'quite low' (Parliament TV)

It comes as Home Secretary James Cleverly conceded that even if the controversial scheme does come to fruition, the number of removals could be "quite low". Facing MPs Mr Cleverly was unable to say how many of 33,085 people currently at risk of being sent to the African nation would actually end up there.

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Questioned about what could happen to thousands of asylum seekers who arrived in the UK since July, Mr Cleverly was unable to give an answer. Those who reached the UK without authorisation after the Illegal Migration Act came into effect last summer are at risk of being sent to Rwanda.

Pressed on what would happen, Mr Cleverly said: "The answer is entirely dependent on other work we're doing in parallel. It may well be if we're successful with returns agreements, if circumstances in other countries change, it may well be that the figure is quite low.

"It could be nearly at that figure, but the point is the number of people that we might send to Rwanda is entirely contingent on a whole set of other work that we're doing."

The Home Secretary was quizzed by members of the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee, who this month visited the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge in Dorset. In a letter shared with the committee, Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft said it currently costs £120 a night to place people on the vessel.

This compares to an average of £140 per night in hotels, Sir Matthew said. It said that the total-life saving from using the Bibby Stockholm would be £800,000, when set-up costs are taken into account.

Dave Burke