Rwanda blasts ‘dithering’ Welby over asylum row

JUSTIN Welby has been criticised as ‘moralising and dithering’ by the Rwandan high commissioner over his outbursts against the asylum deal.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s opposition was condemned as ‘narrow-minded’ by Johnston Busingye.

The diplomat suggested Mr Welby has a ‘frankly backwards impression of Rwanda’. Writing for the Comment Central website yesterday, Mr Busingye said: ‘In times of crisis, the focus must be on action: on practical and pragmatic solutions, rather than on moralising and dithering.

‘It seems to me that criticisms of the partnership as a narrowminded approach to the migration crisis are themselves based on incomplete, narrow-minded perspectives of Rwanda’s partnership with the UK.’

Mr Busingye said the partnership is ‘focused on overhauling an outdated, broken international system... and contributing to solutions to this global crisis’.

He added: ‘According to the International Maritime Organisation, at least 50,000 people have lost their lives on migration routes since 2014. Over half of them have been trying to reach Europe. This is a tragedy on an unthinkable scale. Our recent past in Rwanda, during which many of us experienced what it means to be a refugee, enables us to empathise with this suffering.’

Mr Welby has vowed to carry on challenging the Government’s immigration reforms, warning he and other bishops in the House of Lords ‘will not abandon’ their opposition to Suella Braverman’s Illegal Migration Bill.

The legislation, which is currently before the Lords, sets out measures to ‘swiftly remove’ migrants who arrive in Britain by ‘irregular’ routes such as across the Channel by small boat. The £140million Rwanda agreement, secured by the Home Office last year, allows migrants to be sent to the East African nation to claim asylum rather than here. But the scheme remains in limbo due to legal challenges.

Writing in The Times this week, Mr Welby described the Bill as ‘immoral’, and said it ‘will do little to resolve existing problems’.

Mr Busingye said he hoped global co-operation and investment will mean that in the future refugees ‘can quickly and safely reach nearby cities with welcoming migration policies’. He added: ‘Progress towards achieving this is paralysed by the polarisation and politicisation of the debate around migration and asylum.

‘ In the UK, outdated and frankly backward impressions of Rwanda have further derailed these discussions.’ He appeared to chide the cleric by remarking: ‘Words... are no substitute for action, and for results.’

Another 163 small boat migrants reached Dover on Thursday, bringing the total this year to 7,569. It came as Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg urged ministers to tackle legal migration. He said cuts to foreign student visas could reduce the ‘shocking’ numbers, with net migration up 24 per cent last year to 606,000.

Home Office data showed the number of foreign workers arriving in the UK in the 12 months to March rose to 299,891, a 119 per cent jump on pre-Covid levels.