New Catholic leader says Ratcliffe immigration comments ‘deeply unhelpful’

The new leader of Catholics in England and Wales has branded comments by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe on immigration “deeply unhelpful” and spoken against the Government’s policy to house asylum seekers in military accommodation.

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim has since apologised if his language that the UK had been “colonised” by migrants had “offended some people in the UK and Europe”.

Bishop Richard Moth, who will be formally installed as the 12th Archbishop of Westminster in a ceremony this weekend, said he felt “deeply saddened” by the original remarks.

When named in the role in December, he indicated he would speak out on societal issues including migration.

In an interview with the Press Association, Archbishop-elect Moth – who will lead the approximately four million Catholics in England and Wales – said such language “paints with too broad a brush, and at the end of this is a human person”.

He said: “Speaking into a debate is fine, but the language is unfortunate, and I think that approach that he expressed is a deeply unfortunate one. I would disagree with it wholeheartedly.”

He added that it was “deeply unhelpful” and “deeply saddening that somebody would think of a fellow human being along those lines, another might say that’s disgusting – I’m deeply saddened”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves had described Sir Jim’s language as “disgusting”, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was “offensive and wrong”.

Alongside his apology, Sir Jim insisted it was “important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration” and to “maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK”.

Archbishop-elect Moth told PA he “can understand people’s concerns” on the topic and, especially with his background as Catholic Bishop of the Forces from 2009 until 2015, appreciated that “the prime task of any government is the protection of its borders and the protection of its people”.

But he criticised both the previous and current governments over their approach to housing asylum seekers, saying there must be a better way to address “the needs of these people”.

The Labour Government has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament by opting for more basic accommodation such as military sites instead.

Archbishop-elect Moth said: “I think the debate I would like to see is, how can we best approach this issue? Having people living in hotels for long periods of time is not ideal.

“I don’t think using badly-heated and bad condition army temporary accommodation and training camps is good either.

“So there needs to be discussion, but it’s about, how can we best respond to the needs of these people who are sitting in front of us? That’s the level I believe it needs to be at.”

The soon-to-be archbishop, speaking last year, had previously issued a statement in his role on social justice in the Church, calling on people to “empathise with all who come to this country for their safety”.

Asked if he felt a responsibility to speak out on perceived injustice, he told PA: “Yes, I do. I think that the church is in an important and, I believe, kind of helpful place in this regard, because it’s possible for the Catholic community to slightly stand aside from things, in a sense, and to shine this light into it.

“That’s a really valuable place to be, so that you can speak into the political space without becoming political.

“You can speak into the situation of injustice without having to go through the political route. And that gives the church an immense reach actually.”

He will officially become Archbishop of Westminster in a service in central London’s Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.

Asked about his new role, having been Bishop of Arundel and Brighton since 2015, he said: “It’s certainly a very big role, very big and I’m very conscious of that. So there is a lot to take in, a lot to take on.”

He replaces the retiring Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who held the role for 16 years.