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Changes to visa rules in a drive to curb immigration numbers will have a “negative impact” on critical family relationships, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

While the Most Rev Justin Welby said the government was “rightly concerned” with reducing legal migration figures, he warned there would be “a cost to be paid” as a result of some of the restrictions being introduced.

Stressing the importance of families to society, the top Anglican cleric argued the government “must not set a series of hurdles for them to jump over”.

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Mr Welby also said the two-child benefit cap was “not a good policy” and the moral case for scrapping it was “beyond any question”.

Under a package of measures unveiled this week, overseas health and care workers will be prevented from bringing their dependants to the UK, while Britons must be earning at least £38,700 if they want to bring foreign family members.

The dramatic increase of the threshold – more than double the previous limit of £18,600 – to above the median income for a full-time employee has sparked criticism.

Net migration hit a record 745,000 in 2022, although it is estimated to have fallen to 672,000 in the year to June 2023.

The move to limit legal arrivals comes as the government seeks to press ahead with its controversial Rwanda asylum plan in a bid to stop illegal crossings on small boats.

Speaking in parliament, Mr Welby called on the government to take action to promote the “flourishing” of families.

He said: “This week we hear that many people in this country will be prevented from living together with their spouse, child or children, elderly parents, as a result of a big increase in the minimum income requirement for family visas.

“The government is rightly concerned with bringing down the legal migration figures and I’m not, you’ll be relieved to know, going into the politics of that.

“But there is a cost to be paid in terms of the negative impact this will have on married and family relationships for those who live and work and contribute to our life together, particularly in social care.”

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Government unveils immigration plan

The archbishop pressed for the application to policy of a “family test”, introduced in 2014 under then prime minister David Cameron, now Lord Cameron, and said it should be on the front of every piece of legislation.

Mr Welby said: “The state is useful to the family, the family is indispensable to the state. A lack of strong families undermines our whole society.

“Government needs families to work. They must not set a series of hurdles for them to jump over.”

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He also pointed to estimates by campaigners that ditching the two-child benefit limit “would lift a quarter of a million children out of poverty”.

Mr Welby added: “The moral case is beyond any question, yet the unfair penalty applied to additional children affects their educational outcomes, mental and physical health, their likelihood to require public support from public services later on.

“It is not a good policy.

“Will the government and the opposition, should they become the government at some point, consider removing the two-child limit and addressing other systems and policy choices which keep family in poverty?”

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He urged all political parties to “place flourishing families and households as a key objective” within their manifestos at the next general election.

His comments came during the annual debate he leads in the House of Lords, with this year’s topic Love Matters, The Report Of The Archbishops’ Commission On Families and Households.

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Crypto to ‘Banana Singularity,’ Bybit halts India services, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Jan. 5 – 11

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Crypto to ‘Banana Singularity,’ Bybit halts India services, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Jan. 5 – 11

Real Vision co-founder and CEO Raoul Pal says crypto is heading for ‘Banana Singularity,’ Russia seizes $10M in Bitcoin, and more: Hodler’s

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Kemi Badenoch calls on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq over property allegations

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Kemi Badenoch calls on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq over property allegations

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations she lived in properties linked to allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.

It comes after the current Bangladeshi leader, Muhammad Yunus, said London properties used by Ms Siddiq should be investigated.

He told the Sunday Times the properties should be handed back to his government if they were acquired through “plain robbery”.

Tory leader Ms Badenoch said: “It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq.

“He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.

“Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina.”

Ms Siddiq insists she has “done nothing wrong”.

Her aunt was ousted from office in August following an uprising against her 20-year leadership and fled to India.

Ms Siddiq is also named with her aunt in Bangladesh court documents about meetings with the Russian government.

Kemi Badenoch
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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir to sack the minister

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As economic secretary to the Treasury, Ms Siddiq is responsible for policy on both the City and tackling corruption.

She referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog on Monday following the reports about the properties.

On the same day, the prime minister said: “Tulip Siddiq has acted entirely properly by referring herself to the independent adviser, as she’s now done, and that’s why we brought into being the new code.

“It’s to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts, and yes, I’ve got confidence in her, and that’s the process that will now be happening.”

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Kenya drafts legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies

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Kenya drafts legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies

Kenya is preparing legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies with a draft proposal open for public feedback until Jan. 24.

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