A Tory frontbencher has stated there may be “no specific evidence” to help Suella Braverman’s inflammatory declare that church buildings are serving to bogus asylum claims.
Tom Pursglove advised MPs he did not know the way Ms Braverman reached her conclusion about systemic abuse within the asylum course of. She claimed she had grow to be conscious of church buildings “facilitating industrial-scale bogus asylum claims” earlier than she was sacked as Home Secretary.
Asked by MPs what this proof was and whether or not he’d seen it, Mr Pursglove, the Legal Migration Minister, floundered: “I can’t give a specific definitive answer as to what it is that Mrs Braverman has in mind. She would need to explain that to the committee in her own terms and in her own way.
“What I can say is… we should not have proof of systemic abuse of the asylum course of in the way in which that some maybe are suggesting.” It came after a clergyman hit out at church bosses and claimed that asylum seekers often see baptism as a “ticket to one thing”.
It comes after it emerged Clapham acid attacker Abdul Ezedi had efficiently challenged his asylum refusal after changing to Christianity. He is known to have been supported by an individual from a Baptist church.
Tory backbencher Marco Longhi accused the Church of England of “aiding and abetting” unlawful immigration. Asked if he agreed, Mr Pursglove stated: “I think the church does have to think very carefully, like all of us do, about the work that we do, how that work can be portrayed by those that are facilitating these terrible crossings.”
Reverend Matthew Firth, a former parish priest in Darlington, advised the Home Affairs Select Committee he’d been fearful about dozens of individuals desirous to be baptised after their asylum claims had been rejected. But a senior Bishop hit again, saying his numbers “don’t add up” and rejected allegations that the Church of England is a “conveyor belt”.
Rev Firth claimed he would frequently get teams of “six or seven” males, principally from Syria and Iran, who wished to be baptised. The clergyman, who was parish priest at St Cuthbert’s from 2018 to 2020, claimed all of them had been interesting rejected asylum claims. He stated many see baptism as a “ticket to something”.
He advised MPs that when he insisted they take an lively function in church life, their want to be baptised would “melt away”. He claimed: “You spot a pattern and then you think, ‘hang on, there’s something going on here’. And then you try to press a pause button, which is to make sure that people are requested to come to church and start getting involved and attending church regularly events and so on. And that was the thing that kind of made the numbers fall off a cliff in a sense, because those people kind of melted away really.”
He additionally claimed there was an “unwillingness” to deal with this throughout the church, claiming there had been “some naivety”. Rev Firth, who’s now a vicar for the Free Church of England, stated he hadn’t raised his considerations to church leaders as a result of he did not consider it could be acted on. The committee heard that over 10 years, there have been 15 baptisms at St Cuthbert’s which can have been of asylum seekers.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, hit again, saying Rev Firth’s claims “don’t add up”. She stated: “I think he’s absolutely right to say that clergy should be very vigilant. We take baptism incredibly seriously, it is a sacrament.
“It will not be one thing to be performed with. And we additionally anticipate our clergy to behave truthfully and in truth and throughout the bounds of the regulation. But the figures do not fairly add up for me.”
She said she’d queried Ms Braverman’s claims. Questioned about Mr Ezedi and Enzo Almeni – who died after setting off a bomb outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in 2021. He had converted from Islam to Christianity in 2015.
The Bishop said processes were constantly under review, stating: “The church will not be infallible we’re a human establishment.” She went on: “I do not suppose that we will make coverage and formal large opinions on the idea of a few damaging circumstances. I feel now we have to be very cautious about that.”