UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice rejected Church of England criticism of the party’s small-boat deportation policy, urging bishops to stay out of politics.
As reported by The Guardian, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK clashed with the Church of England over plans to deport all small-boat asylum seekers, labelled “isolationist” by a senior bishop.
Richard Tice’s response to Archbishop Cottrell’s criticism
Richard Tice, deputy leader of the party, slammed Archbishop Stephen Cottrell on Sunday, accusing him of interfering in domestic political matters.
Earlier this week, Nigel Farage revealed the party’s new migration plan, which proposes Britain leave the European Convention on Human Rights and deport people arriving from France by small boats.
Mr Cottrell said,
“We should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short-term, kneejerk – in this case, ‘send them home’. Mr Farage is saying the things he’s saying, but he is not offering any long-term solution to the big issues which are convulsing our world, which lead to this.”
Responding during the broadcast, Mr Tice rejected the bishop’s remarks and urged the acting archbishop of Canterbury to avoid commenting on migration policy.
When asked if Mr Cottrell’s backlash was wrong, Mr Tice responded, “All of it’s wrong. Because our policy on asylum seekers and removing those who are here illegally is to look after the people that the British government is supposed to look after, which is the British people, and to make them more prosperous, to improve the quality of public services for British citizens.”
Mr Tice said,
“And you’ve now got a government that’s basically admitted the opposite is true. They’re more interested in protecting the rights of people who’ve come here illegally – therefore, they are criminals – than looking after the rights of British citizens. That’s the dividing line.”
He stated,
“I enjoy the church, I believe in God. But the role of the archbishop is not actually to interfere with international migration policies.”
How did the Reform plan to deport asylum seekers across the channel?
Under Nigel Farage’s new plan, asylum seekers arriving via the Channel could be sent back even to countries like Afghanistan and Eritrea. The policy also calls for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR and other international human rights treaties.
The Reform plan includes sending teams of immigration officers into communities to locate and deport irregular migrants.
The party has struggled to answer detailed questions about how the policy would work and how much it would cost. Mr Farage initially said women and children would be detained and deported as well as men, but a day later, he seemed to row back on that, suggesting doing so was not “part of our plan.”
When asked about the £10bn cost estimate for his proposals, compared with £47.5bn for a similar plan by former party member Rupert Lowe, Mr Farage replied, “Zia [Yusuf, senior Reform official] is very good at maths.”
The party has proposed deploying the navy to support its migration plans. Mr Tice confirmed that the vessels would largely act as observers, similar to the current role of the Border Force.
What did Bridget Phillipson say about closing hotels and ending child poverty?
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Sunday the government plans to close hotels in an “orderly” way by the end of the parliament, adding, “We can’t leave hundreds of people on the street because a hotel has closed.”
In a separate remark, she urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap the two-child benefit cap, citing Cottrell’s warning that it is driving up child poverty.
Ms Phillipson said she was “ashamed” of the large numbers of children living in poverty and added that lowering these figures was “what I came into politics to do.”
Referring to the benefit cap, she added,
“It’s not the only way we can lift children out of poverty, and of course, it does come with a big price tag. But we know that not acting also comes with serious consequences and impact, too.”
Key facts about asylum seekers in the UK
The UK received 111,000 asylum applications by June 2025, with many from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Bangladesh, and small boat arrivals making up 33% of claims.
Despite a reduced backlog, 70,532 cases are still waiting, with many asylum seekers housed in expensive hotels. Asylum seekers have no choice of location, and new rules cut the time to find housing after approval from 56 to 28 days.