The Archbishop of Canterbury has again slammed the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, telling the House of Lords: “We can as a nation do better than this bill.”
Speaking in the upper chamber, the Most Rev Justin Welby said the government was “continuing to seek good objectives in the wrong way”, leading the country down a “damaging path” by insisting on pushing forward with its legislation.
And he accused ministers of seeking to “outsource our legal and moral responsibilities for refugees and asylum seekers”.
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MPs approved the Rwanda bill earlier this month, which aims to deport asylum seekers coming to the UK on small boats to the African nation as a deterrent from making Channel crossings.
But Rishi Sunak faced a backlash from his own benches, with around 60 Tory rebels voting to toughen up the law and 11 of his MPs voting the whole bill down.
Now it is facing its next parliamentary hurdle with the scrutiny of peers, many of whom have already publicly spoken out against the bill – especially around its ability to disapply human rights law and to ignore rulings made by the European Court of Human Rights to halt deportation flights.
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Moment Rwanda plan clears Commons
The plan has already faced its first defeat in the upper chamber, after Lords voted against the ratification of the UK’s new treaty with the country – part of the government’s plan to address the fears of the Supreme Court, who ruled the scheme unlawful late last year.
The bill covering the overall plan is expected to pass its second reading this evening, mostly due to a convention for the unelected chamber not to create barriers to legislation from elected MPs at this stage.
But there is a plot by Liberal Democrat peers – who total 80 in the Lords – to ignore the practice and vote against it anyway.
And it is not stopping prominent figures in the Lords from speaking out against the plan.
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Sunak warns Lords over Rwanda Bill
Mr Welby, who as one of the 26 bishops of the Church of England is allowed to sit in the Lords, said the Rwanda bill “obscures the truth that all people, asylum seekers included, are of great value”.
He added: “It is damaging for asylum seekers in need of protection and safe and legal routes to be heard. It is damaging for this country’s reputation… It is damaging in respect of constitutional principles and the rule of law.
“And most of all, my lords, it is damaging for our nation’s unity in a time when the greatest issues of war, peace, defence and security need us to be united.”
Mr Welby said the “right way forward though is to enable the unity on ends to be translated into a unity on means”, adding: “The challenge of migration is… long term and global, and so must our response be.
“We need a wider strategy… for refugee policy which involves international cooperation and equips us for the far greater migration flows, perhaps 10 times greater, in the coming decades as a result of conflict and climate change and poverty
“Instead this bill offers only ad-hoc one off approaches.”
While Mr Welby said he would not vote against the bill at second reading, he and his spiritual colleagues take their “revising role seriously”.
Welby preaches to the converted
To a majority of members of the House of Lords, the government’s Rwanda bill is an unholy abomination.
Last week, their lordships voted by 214 votes to 171, a majority of 43, to delay ratification of the Rwanda treaty until safeguards have been implemented.
And in his speech during the second reading debate on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, Mr Welby accused Rishi Sunak of a “pick and choose approach” to international law.
The archbishop began his speech by telling peers the heart of the Christian tradition was that strangers were welcomed.
“Jesus said ‘I was a stranger and you invited me in’,” he said.
And there were loud cries of “hear, hear!” from around the Lords’ chamber when the Archbishop declared: “We can as a nation do better than this bill.”
No-one could accuse the archbishop of contradicting himself on this issue. He led opposition in the Lords to the Illegal Migration Bill, which resulted in a series of defeats for the government.
He has previously described the Rwanda policy as “against the judgement of God” and he served notice in this debate that he’s prepared to play a full part in their lordships’ attempts to pull the Rwanda bill apart in the coming weeks.
Rishi Sunak has urged peers not to block “the will of the people”.
But Lord Welby’s argument, essentially, is that the will of God trumps the will of the people. And many of their lordships appear to agree.
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Speaking for the government, Tory minister and Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Dirleton stood by the bill, saying it was a “shared objective” of peers to “stop the boats” and “doing nothing is not an option”.
He said: “There is nothing generous about letting the status quo continue, that would only serve the deplorable people smugglers to facilitate these dangerous crossings.
“It would only put more lives at risk and it would continue to strain our communities and our public services.”
But there were jeers from some peers when Lord Dirleton claimed the new legislation made it clear Rwanda was “a safe country”, and further unsettled noises when he said, while “novel”, the provisions in the bill could be implemented “in line with both our domestic law and our international obligations”.
Labour’s shadow minister, Lord Ponsonby, outlined his party’s opposition to the bill, telling peers: “This is the third time in as many years that the government has asked this house to consider legislation to stop boat journeys and to reform the asylum system.
“The third year of being presented with increasingly rushed, unworkable and inhumane solutions to the problem of small boats and asylum.”
But despite Labour’s issues – especially over the bill “threatening the UK’s compliance with international law” – Labour said it would not join the Lib Dems in voting it down at this stage.
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Rwanda bill ‘unworkable’
However, the peer leading the plan to vote down the bill today, former leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, Lord German, said: “The treatment of asylum seekers and refugees… is completely contrary to how we should be acting as a country with a reputation for protecting individuals rights and freedoms where the rule of law is upheld.
“It was the settled will of this house last week that the treaty cannot yet by ratified, so how can this house consent to a bill which relies on that treaty having the approval of this house?”
The business secretary has told Sky News he would not bring a Chinese company into the “sensitive” steel sector again – after the government was forced to take control of British Steel.
Urgent legislation rushed through the House of Commons and House of Lords on Saturday gave ministers the power to instruct British Steel – owned by Chinese company Jingye – to keep the plant open.
The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill essentially allows the government to take control of British Steel “using force if necessary”, order materials for steelmaking and instruct that workers be paid. It also authorises a jail sentence of up to two years for anyone breaching this law.
Emergency bill becomes law – follow the latest reaction here
British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant. Pic: Reuters
Jonathan Reynolds told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that he would not “personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector” again, describing steel as a “sensitive area” in the UK.
The business secretary agreed there is now a high trust bar for Chinese companies to be involved in the UK economy.
He said: “I think steel is a very sensitive area. I don’t know… the Boris Johnson government when they did this, what exactly the situation was. But I think it’s a sensitive area.”
Jingye stepped in with a deal to buy British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant out of insolvency in 2020, when Mr Johnson was prime minister.
But the company recently cancelled orders for supplies of raw materials needed to keep blast furnaces running at the site – the last in the UK capable of producing virgin steel.
This threw the future of the steel industry into question, and ultimately led to MPs and peers being recalled from parliamentary recess to take part in a rare Saturday sitting when negotiations with Jingye appeared to break down.
An emergency bill to save the plant became law later that day.
Public ownership currently ‘likely option’
It stops short of full nationalisation of British Steel, but Reynolds told Sky News that public ownership remains the “likely option” for the future.
He said: “Well that remains an option. And to be frank, as I said to parliament yesterday, it is perhaps at this stage the likely option.”
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However, the minister said he believes there is “potential” for a commercial private sector partner.
He said: “That is my preference, but I feel we’ve got to find a bridge to that. The kind of investments required for the transition to new steel technology, whichever technology that is, it’s a lot of money, a lot of capital.”
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said the government’s emergency bill amounts to a “botched nationalisation”.
He told Sky News the Conservatives supported the “least worst” option in the Commons on Saturday.
“There’s clearly still more work to do because the taxpayer is now picking up the bills for a business that is still owned by its Chinese owner,” the Tory frontbencher said.
“I hope the government will very quickly come back and clarify that situation.”
Anti-corruption authorities in Bangladesh have issued a warrant for the arrest of British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sought the warrant over allegations Ms Siddiq received a 7,200sq ft plot of land in the country’s capital, Dhaka.
Ms Siddiq’s lawyers have told Sky News the allegations are “completely false”, adding there was “no basis at all for any charges to be made against her”.
They said there was “absolutely no truth” behind the allegations regarding the plot of land.
The MP resigned as a Treasury minister earlier this year following an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser into her links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s regime, which was overthrown in Bangladesh last year.
Earlier this month, Ms Siddiq told Sky News her lawyers were “ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations of corruption in Bangladesh.
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Tulip Siddiq’s lawyers ‘are ready’
In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.
Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.
Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.
The allegations surrounding Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Ms Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.
Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.
She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Ms Hasina claims it is all a political witch hunt.
Tulip Siddiq with Sheikh Hasina in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Ms Siddiq’s lawyer said in a statement that she “has not been contacted by the ACC or any authorities in Bangladesh”.
“The ACC has made various allegations against Ms Siddiq through the media in the last few months,” they said.
“The allegations are completely false and have been dealt with in writing by Ms Siddiq’s lawyers. The ACC has not responded to Ms Siddiq or put any allegations to her directly or through her lawyers.
“Ms Siddiq knows nothing about a hearing in Dhaka relating to her and she has no knowledge of any arrest warrant that is said to have been issued.
“To be clear, there is no basis at all for any charges to be made against her, and there is absolutely no truth in any allegation that she received a plot of land in Dhaka through illegal means.
“She has never had a plot of land in Bangladesh, and she has never influenced any allocation of plots of land to her family members or anyone else.
“No evidence has been provided by the ACC to support this or any other allegation made against Ms Siddiq, and it is clear to us that the charges are politically motivated.”
Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, recently said that he expects a crypto market bill to be passed into law by August 2025.
The chairman also noted the Senate Banking Committee’s advancement of the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory bill, in March 2025, as evidence that the committee prioritizes crypto policy. In a statement to Fox News, Scott said:
“We must innovate before we regulate — allowing innovation in the digital asset space to happen here at home is critical to American economic dominance across the globe.”
Scott’s timeline for a crypto market structure bill lines up with expectations from Kristin Smith, CEO of the crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association, of market structure and stablecoin legislation being passed into law by August.
The Trump administration has emphasized that comprehensive crypto regulations are central to its plans for protecting the value of the US dollar and establishing the country as a global leader in digital assets by attracting investment into US-based crypto firms.
Senator Tim Scott highlights the Senate Banking Committee’s goals and accomplishments in 2025. Source: Fox News
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Support for comprehensive crypto regulations is bipartisan
US lawmakers and officials expect clear crypto policies to be established and signed into law sometime in 2025 with bipartisan support from Congress.
Speaking at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, on March 18, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna said he expects both the market structure and stablecoin bills to pass this year.
The Democrat lawmaker added that there are about 70-80 other representatives in the party who understand the importance of passing clear digital asset regulations in the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, pictured left, President Donald Trump in the center, and crypto czar David Sacks, pictured right, at the White House Crypto Summit. Source: The White House
Khanna emphasized that fellow Democrats support dollar-pegged stablecoins due to the role of dollar tokens in expanding demand for the US dollar worldwide through the internet.
Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, also spoke at the conference and predicted that stablecoin legislation would be passed into law within 60 days.
Hines highlighted that establishing US dominance in the digital asset space is a goal with widespread bipartisan support in Washington DC.
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