Suella Braverman refuses to meet Archbishop of Canterbury to discuss immigration

Suella Braverman has been out causing controversy again after snubbing the Archbishop of Canterbury by turning down an invitation to see him.

Justin Welby has reached out ‘a number of times’ to the Home Secretary over her heavy-handed immigration policy, only to be ignored.

A spokesperson for the archbishop confirmed the news and said: ‘The archbishop would be happy to meet the Home Secretary to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. In the past, the archbishop has met other home secretaries. It is not unusual.’

Mrs Braverman’s decision has been a ‘big slap in the face’ for the archbishop, according to a former senior advisor to the 26 bishops who sit in the House of Lords.

But government sources said an informal approach was made for a meeting which is understood to have happened between the archbishop and immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

The archbishop and other bishops criticised the government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda and condemned ‘harmful rhetoric’ about refugees.

The Home Secretary hit out on GB News and predicted there will be a ‘disintegration in our society’ if action is not taken to curb the number of migrants arriving in Britain via small boats.

In a rant to the news channel, she said: ‘Whether it is New York City, whether it is the border with Texas, whether it is Italy, whether it is the Channel, we need to look again at whether these international rules are fit for purpose.

‘And what I said in my speech is that there is a lot at stake. There is democratic legitimacy which is at stake.

‘People want control of their borders and they want government to get a grip on this and if we don’t it will lead to a disintegration in our society.

‘And we need to change — we need to change some of the definitions relating to refugee persecution. It needs to be a high bar if someone is coming to our country fleeing persecution, not a low bar.’

She said it was ‘reasonable’ to question whether accords such as the Refugee Convention, which 149 states have signed up to, are still fit for purpose.

‘I don’t think they are,’ she added.

She repeated her argument made in the US that the threshold for claiming asylum needs to be raised.

Mrs Braverman warned the West faced an ‘existential’ threat if countries were not able to control their borders from unauthorised arrivals.

She is backing calls for international reform of refugee rules — such as the United Nations’ Refugee Convention — despite facing backlash, including from Tories.

Some Tory MPs singled out her comments that being discriminated against for being gay or a woman should not grant a person refugee status in the UK.

Chief Whip Simon Hart is one of those upset and who is expected to speak with Mrs Braverman to express his concern.

The UN’s refugee agency has hit back at her and denied there is the need for a relaxation of the definition of a refugee.

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