Speaking as the UK Government prepares to deport the first round of asylum seekers to Rwanda, the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Revd. David Nixon, said:

“I fully ally the Methodist Church in Ireland with the comments made by those colleagues in the Anglican communion that this move to deport categories of asylum seekers to Rwanda is a shameful act and a deep stain on the moral conscience of the UK.

“You cannot claim on one hand to be defenders of liberal democracy in Ukraine while simultaneously, on the home front, seeking to pass legislation to make acts of protest more difficult and dispatching those seeking freedom from oppression to a country whose attitude towards minority groups has historically been questionable at best.

“A mere ten days on from the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Jubilee, which my predecessor attended, it is saddening that the themes of kindness, compassion and duty towards those less privileged which have summed up Her Majesty’s faith and reign, are to vanish in the minds of her ministers.

“I pray, along with all the Methodist people in Ireland - north and south - for the prevalence of hospitality, tolerance and compassion.”

ENDS

14.06.22

Issued by:
Rev. David Nixon, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland
Mr. Tom Wilson, Lay Leader of the Methodist Church in Ireland

Contact:
Rev. Roy Cooper (+44 (0)7710 945104)