8 hours ago
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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.
In a letter to the Guardian, they urge the home secretary to “pause, listen and revise” the plans. The letter echoes the concerns of at least 100 Labour backbenchers who have claimed the changes will undermine the government’s commitment to social cohesion.
Under the plans, adults and accompanied children claiming asylum will receive a 30-month period of protection, if it is granted. If after 30 months the countries from which they fled are deemed safe, they will be expected to return home.
It would end the current system whereby refugees are given five years of protection and allowed to bring their families, followed by possible permanent settlement. Mahmood’s plans would involve forcibly removing families – including children – who refuse the government’s offer to leave voluntarily.
As part of the plans, Mahmood launched a pilot scheme to pay 150 families with rejected asylum claims up to £40,000 each to voluntarily leave the country or face forcible removal.
The letter’s signatories include the lord bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, as well as Rabbi Rebecca Birk from the Finchley progressive synagogue, and Qari Asim, an imam at Leeds Makkah mosque. It says: “We urge ministers to slow down and rethink their proposals, which contain serious flaws.”
It suggests the changes have been rushed, adding: “Massive changes to rules that could shape the lives of more than a million people in the UK for the next 20 years or more should not be made in haste.”
The letter adds: “Stability, belonging and a clear pathway to citizenship are essential to building cohesive communities. Policies that make status more precarious and pathways more distant risk undermining that.”
