David Cameron defends Rwanda migration plan as ex-PM tells critics to keep quiet ‘if you don’t have a better answer’ – but Archbishop of Canterbury renews his attacks over ‘immoral’ new asylum laws with Justin Welby vowing he won’t give up the fight
- David Cameron has ‘huge sympathy’ with ministers amid Channel migrant crisis
David Cameron today defended the Government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as he suggested critics had yet come to forward with a ‘better answer’.
The ex-prime minister said he had ‘huge sympathy’ with ministers as they attempt to break people-smuggling gangs behind the Channel migrant crisis.
He also claimed those opposed to Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s approach to illegal migration should keep quiet until they offer solutions themselves.
But the former premier’s defence of the Government’s approach to the small boats crisis came as the Archbishop of Canterbury renewed his attack on ministers.
Justin Welby blasted ‘immoral’ new asylum laws in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Illegal Migration Bill.
He also vowed that bishops would ‘not abandon’ their fight against the legislation in the House of Lords.
David Cameron defended the Government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as he suggested critics had yet come to forward with a ‘better answer’.
The ex-prime minister said he had ‘huge sympathy’ with ministers as they attempt to break people-smuggling gangs behind the Channel migrant crisis
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, renewed his attack on ministers by blasting ‘immoral’ new asylum laws in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Illegal Migration Bill
Mr Cameron gave his backing to the Government’s efforts to stop the Channel migrant crisis as peers prepared to continue their consideration of the bill today.
Asked about the proposed scheme to send asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda to have their claims processed, the ex-PM told LBC: ‘If you don’t have a better answer to the things that the Government is doing to try and stop this illegal trade, then I think there’s no point criticising.
‘I mean, we know that there are ways of shutting down people smuggling businesses.
‘I mean, there was that deal many years ago, when I was prime minister, when lots of people were moving from Turkey to Greece.
‘When the deal was done – much criticised – but when the deal was done, that everyone who arrived in Greece from Turkey was sent back to Turkey, the people smuggling operation collapsed, because suddenly the people smugglers couldn’t sell what they were selling.
‘So I have huge sympathy with the Government when they say we’ve got to collapse the model of the people smugglers.
‘And that means people who arrive through that manner shouldn’t be able to stay.
‘So until you’ve got a better answer, you won’t find me in radio and television studios telling Suella Braverman what to do.’
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been one of the leading critics of the Illegal Migration Bill, which seeks to toughen the UK’s asylum system and has now reached its committee stage in the House of Lords.
In a renewed attack on the proposed legislation, Mr Welby claimed the Bill would ‘do little to resolve the existing problems, and will exacerbate others, all while causing serious suffering to the most vulnerable’.
The Archbishop said he had tabled ‘helpful, not destructive’ amendments to the Government legislation which would require ministers ‘to produce long-term strategies to tackle human trafficking and the refugee crisis’.
Mr Welby called for a speeding up of efforts to clear the backlog of asylum claimes, the creation of an ‘alternative safe route’ for asylum seekers to come to the UK, and for Britain to lead a review of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
He wrote in The Times: ‘Those who sit on the bishops’ bench will not abandon our duty to point out when governments propose legislation that is impractical or immoral.
‘We will not abandon the most vulnerable people that Jesus Christ specifically calls us to love.
‘And we will not abandon our hopes and efforts for a nation and a world that helps those in trouble and supports those in need.’
The Archbishop insisted those opposed to the Bill were not ‘indifferent to the challenges we face, or in favour of open-door immigration, or on the side of people smugglers, or even content to see desperate people drown’.
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