Starmer union ally joins opposition to rules barring citizenship for small boat refugees

Keir Starmer’s most generous union backer has joined faith leaders to warn Yvette Cooper that new rules refusing citizenship to refugees who arrive in small boats will “breed division and distrust” and could fuel attacks on migrant hotels.

Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, and nine Church of England bishops are among 148 signatories to a letter saying the home secretary’s plan to bar naturalisation for anyone who has made a dangerous journey will label tens of thousands of people “second class citizens”.

The letter, shared with the Guardian, says the policy could encourage “a toxic politics” that is “manipulated by the far right to bring hate and disorder to our streets”.

It comes amid deepening concern that Starmer’s government has adopted a hardline “hostile environment” stance on asylum to fight off a poll surge by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

McAnea, usually thought to be close to Starmer, heads the UK’s biggest union which was Labour’s most generous corporate donor during the 2024 general election, handing over £1.49m.

Signatories of the letter include Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the bishop of Dover and the C of E’s first black female bishop, and eight lord bishops including those from Southwark, Manchester, Gloucester and Leicester.

It follows a growing backlash against a change of guidance last Monday which in effect blocked thousands of refugees from applying for citizenship if they arrived in the UK by small boats or hidden in vehicles.

Home Office staff assessing people who have applied for naturalisation have been given instructions saying that applicants who “made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship”.

The letter asks Cooper to “urgently reconsider the decision to effectively ban tens of thousands of refugees from ever becoming British citizens”.

“It was only last August that violent mobs sought to burn refugees alive in a hotel. Those communities are still healing from that violence and part of the response to the violence should be on creating integrated communities,” the letter says.

“Labelling refugees, who through no fault of their own have had to put their lives at risk on flimsy vessels, or have had to hide in the backs of lorries to reach safety on our shores, as a type of second class individual will simply breed division and distrust.

“It risks playing into a toxic politics that pits ‘us vs them’ and is then manipulated by the far right to bring hate and disorder to our streets.”

Theletter adds that Tony Blair’s government – in which Cooper was a minister – recognised the importance of citizenship “in fostering integration and the proportion of refugees applying for citizenship was a key indicator for the strategy”.

Other signatories include the heads of the Refugee Council, Islamic Relief UK and the Chartered Institute of Housing; and other faith leaders such as rabbis from the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors, the president and vice-president of the Methodist Conference and the general secretary of the Baptist Union.

The letter adds: “When refugees become citizens, they feel a greater sense of belonging as full members of their communities with a stable future for themselves, their children and generations to come.”

An update to the Home Office’s guidance for caseworkers states that anyone applying for British citizenship from last Monday who arrived in the UK illegally “will normally be refused, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place”.

The Refugee Council said it could bar 71,000 people who have successfully applied for asylum from claiming UK citizenship. Colin, Yeo, a leading immigration barrister, said it is a breach of international law.

On Wednesday the former home secretary Lord Blunkett was granted a rare urgent question in the House of Lords on the topic.

He said: “Will [the minister on duty] ask the home secretary to reflect on the societal and cohesion aspects of this policy, the impact on children and their right to UK citizenship and the statelessness which would arise for individuals if their birth country refused to renew or retain their nationality?”

He added: “Surely this parliament should have a say in such a big change.”

The Home Office was approached for a response.