On 11th November, the House of Lords debated the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which bishops took part:
Votes: Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
Tag: Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill 2025
Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill: Bishop of Chelmsford tables amendment on ‘good character’ requirement
On 11th November 2025, the Bishop of Chelmsford The Bishop of Chelmsford tabled her amendment to the Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill which would “ensure the good character requirement is not applied contrary to the UK’s international legal obligations across a number of instruments. It also ensures that an assessment of good character may not take into account a person’s irregular entry or arrival to the UK if they were a child, and it may only be taken into account to the extent specified in guidance published and in force at the time of an adult’s irregular entry or arrival.”
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, I declare my interests as per the register. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord German, and the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for their support as signatories and for their guidance, especially as this is the first amendment that I have sponsored to a piece of legislation. My thanks go also to the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for rightly explaining in my absence in Committee that I have tabled this amendment because I am passionate about the issues it raises: namely, how best to include, not preclude, those with a legal right to be here—those friends, neighbours and colleagues whom we live, work and worship alongside.
The Government’s change to the good character guidance, enacted through secondary legislation with retrospective implementation, in effect makes the “how” of a person’s travel to the UK a determining factor in their character assessment, not the “why” of the reason behind their travel in pursuit of sanctuary. This is a fundamental cultural shift and introduces a factor that bears no correlation to someone’s moral character, their worth and value or the contribution they might make to British society.
Continue reading “Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill: Bishop of Chelmsford tables amendment on ‘good character’ requirement”Votes: Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
On 5th November 2025, the House of Lords debated the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which Bishops took part.
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on right to work
On 5th November 2025, the Bishop of Manchester spoke in a debate on the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, supporting amendments on removing the restrictions on work for asylum seekers:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, as well as Amendment 45 in my name, and that of the noble Lords, Lord Alton of Liverpool and Lord Watson of Invergowrie, I also strongly support the other amendments in this group, to which the noble Lord, Lord German, has just spoken. In fact, I have added my name to two of them.
The current lengthy ban on asylum seekers working wastes talent. Lifting it would let an incredibly talented, resilient group of people—as those are the qualities they needed to even get themselves here—support themselves and their families. It would allow them to rebuild their lives with dignity and independence, at the same time as they would be filling vital UK labour shortages.
Continue reading “Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on right to work”Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Leicester supports amendments on protecting family life for migrants
On 13th October 2025, the Bishop of Sheffield spoke in support of three amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill on support for family life and for refugee children separated from their parents:
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: My Lords, I will speak in support of three amendments in this group, one to which I have put my name and two to which the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford has put hers; as we have heard, she regrets that she cannot be in her place today. I refer to Amendment 177 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, Amendment 178 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and Amendment 203K in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister.
It is not just the Christian Church that regards the family as more than a merely biological unit; it is the fundamental God-given building block of community life and the source of belonging and stability for children. The former Home Secretary recognised this when she wrote in 2020:
Continue reading “Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Leicester supports amendments on protecting family life for migrants”Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Southwark speaks at second reading
The Bishop of Southwark spoke at the second reading of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill on 2nd June 2025, pointing out the need for resources involved in managing the immigration and asylum system, and the potential effects of further hard line approaches to immigration enforcement:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, the diocese in which I serve covers one of the most diverse parts of the country. Indeed, arguably, south London is one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world. This diversity is often represented in our churches, which have benefited, as has the rest of the country, from the great human fact of migration. It would be good to hear some recognition of this in government and Home Office statements.
It is worth stressing that the vast majority of migrants to this country come here properly under the Immigration Rules, and thus there is no proper sense in which their arrival and settlement can be described as uncontrolled. The Government of the day may, for good reasons of public policy, wish to alter the rules or introduce fresh primary legislation, but that does not mean that a system and process is not in place, that applications are not assessed and fees paid, and that the results do not match what Parliament has sanctioned.
Continue reading “Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill: Bishop of Southwark speaks at second reading”
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