Summary

  • A cross-party committee of MPs is questioning Church leaders and Home Office representatives about the role Christianity plays in UK asylum applications

  • Today's Home Affairs Committee hearing comes after it emerged that a man who is believed to have carried out an attack in Clapham, south London, was granted asylum after converting from Islam

  • Abdul Shokoor Ezedi is alleged to have poured a alkali on his ex-partner, injuring her and her two young children, before going on the run - he later drowned in the Thames

  • Rev Matthew Firth, a former priest in Darlington, tells the committee he saw a "pattern" of people requesting baptisms after having asylum claims rejected

  • He previously wrote in the Telegraph that the Church was being used as a "conveyor belt" for asylum claims

  • But the Right Reverend Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, says the Church does not have evidence to support this and she does not "believe there is abuse going on"

  • Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused "churches around the country [of] facilitating industrial-scale bogus asylum claims” - something the Church of England has denied

Live Reporting

Edited by Paul Gribben and Sophie Abdulla

  1. What is being claimed?

    Bibby Stockholm BargePA Media

    The Bibby Stockholm Barge, moored off Portland in Dorset, became fully operational in October 2023

    Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick alleged that asylum seekers had been "aided and abetted by often well-meaning but naive vicars and priests".

    Back in February, reports began to emerge that some 40 migrants on board the Bibby Stockholm – a vessel holding about 500 people while their asylum claims are processed – were seeking to become Christian.

    For their part, Church leaders have maintained that it is “wrong” for politicians to link asylum claim abuse to the clergy, telling the BBC last month that "churches have no power to circumvent the government's duty to vet and approve applications - the responsibility for this rests with the Home Office.”

  2. Why is this being debated now?

    Asylum rules are back in the limelight after some senior politicians sought to accuse several asylum seekers of using their conversion to Christianity as a means to fast-track their case to remain in the UK.

    Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, an Afghan man suspected of carrying out a corrosive attack on a woman and her children in Clapham, was reportedly granted asylum on his third attempt after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity.

  3. Good morning and welcome

    We will be hearing a lot of debate this morning about the validity of migrant and asylum seeker conversions to Christianity.

    This follows Home Secretary James Cleverly recently launching an inquiry into the issue.

    As part of that inquiry, the Commons home affairs committee will hear oral evidence from Home Office minister Tom Pursglove and Church representatives.

    Stay with us as we bring you live updates. You can also watch the proceedings by playing the stream at the top of this page.