Archbishop has misunderstood aims of Rwanda migrants policy – Rees-Mogg
by Geraldine Scott, London Evening Standard:
Plans announced by ministers this week have been deemed ungodly by religious leaders, with Justin Welby claiming sending migrants to the African country would not stand up to the scrutiny of the Lord.
In his Easter sermon, the archbishop said “sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well, like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures”.
But Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Church of England’s most senior clergyman is mistaken.
Speaking on Radio 4’s The World This Weekend programme, he said: “I think he misunderstands what the policy is trying to achieve, and that it isn’t an abandonment of responsibility, it is in fact a taking on of a very difficult responsibility.
“The problem that is being dealt with is that people are risking their lives in the hands of people traffickers, to get into this country illegally. Now, it’s not the illegal bit of it, it is the encouragement of people traffickers that needs to be stopped.”
He said “90% of people coming are young men who by coming via people traffickers are jumping the queue for others”.
Mr Rees-Mogg added: “They are in doing so not only risking their lives but supporting organised crime. What we need to do is focus on legal routes into this country, of which there are quite a number.”
Read also: Archbishop of Canterbury condemns Britain’s Rwanda asylum plan, Reuters
What’s really ungodly, Archbishop, is people smugglers growing rich while asylum seekers drown in the Channel by Dominic Lawson, Mailonline
Welby, small boats and asylum. What’s his alternative? by Paul Goodman, Conservative Home
I wouldn’t touch politics on Easter Day | Rev Marcus Walker on the Justin Welby’s Rwanda plan attack
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