Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, and nine Church of England bishops are among 148 signatories of a letter saying the home secretary’s plan to bar naturalisation for anyone who has made a dangerous journey will label tens of thousands of people “second-class citizens”.
Keir Starmer’s most generous union backer has joined faith leaders to warn Yvette Cooper that new rules refusing citizenship to refugees who arrive in small boats will “breed division and distrust” and could fuel attacks on migrant hotels.
An update to the Home Office’s guidance for caseworkers states that anyone applying for British citizenship from last Monday who arrived in the UK illegally “will normally be refused, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place”.
He asked: “Will [the minister on duty] ask the home secretary to reflect on the societal and cohesion aspects of this policy, the impact on children and their right to UK citizenship and the statelessness which would arise for individuals if their birth country refused to renew or retain their nationality?”.
Other signatories include the heads of the Refugee Council, Islamic Relief UK and the Chartered Institute of Housing; and other faith leaders such as rabbis from the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors, the president and vice-president of the Methodist Conference and the general secretary of the Baptist Union.
