The Methodist Church has responded to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s recent statements on foreign criminals issued in the House of Commons 17th May 2006.

|PIC1|Having come under severe criticism over a number of illegal immigrants and foreign national criminals that were inadvertently released back into society, Blair this week promised that foreign prisoners would be sent back to their countries, which were previously deemed unsafe for deportation.

“There will be an automatic presumption to deport and the vast bulk of those people will be deported. And those people, in my view, should be deported irrespective of any claim that they have that the country to which they are going back may not be safe,” Blair told Commons yesterday.

“That is why it is important if necessary that we look at legislating to ensure that such an automatic presumption applies.”

Anthea Cox, the Coordinating Secretary for the Methodist Church, has expressed deep concerns over Tony Blair's statements regarding the deportation of foreign criminals.

|TOP|Cox said, “Whilst concern about crime should be taken seriously, we have a moral obligation not to send people back to regimes where they will suffer gravely and could even face execution. We are seriously concerned about the implications of Mr. Blair's comments for human rights.

She continued, “Our criminal justice system sentences people according to their crimes, not on the basis of nationality. We need a sense of proportion and to look at each case individually - sending people back to unsafe situations would be disproportionate punishment in most cases.

She concluded, “News stories and political responses such as this one from the Prime Minister unfortunately spread the idea that immigrants cannot be trusted - we have the opportunity and responsibility to take in people who need our help and to educate one another against prejudice.”