{"id":344755,"date":"2025-08-14T20:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344755\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T20:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:34:11","slug":"theologian-in-jenrick-xenophobia-row-says-pair-could-work-together-immigration-and-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344755\/","title":{"rendered":"Theologian in Jenrick xenophobia row says pair \u2018could work together\u2019 | Immigration and asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The theologian who accused Robert Jenrick<\/a> of xenophobia on the BBC has invited the shadow justice minister to work with him to ease tensions over migration rather than \u201cramping up anti-immigrant sentiment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Krish Kandiah\u2019s comments on Radio 4\u2019s Thought for the Day, raising concerns about Jenrick\u2019s remarks about the safety of his daughters because of small boat arrivals, caused a row after a complaint from the shadow justice secretary, with the item being retrospectively edited<\/a> by the BBC.<\/p>\n

Kandiah expressed concern about the current atmosphere relating to migration and said he was extending an olive branch to Jenrick in the hope the two men could work together on the issue.<\/p>\n

The initial remarks by Kandiah, who heads the Sanctuary Foundation refugee charity, prompted an angry response from Jenrick. The BBC<\/a> said it had removed \u201csome of the language used\u201d by Kandiah from a version of Thought for the Day posted online, saying it was not appropriate for the faith-based radio segment.<\/p>\n

In his statement, Kandiah said: \u201cMr Jenrick, I want your daughters and mine to be able to walk down the road safely and without fear. I worked with you when you were housing minister and the UK welcomed over 200,000 people from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was grateful for your support and compassion during that time. I would love to find a way we could work together to de-escalate the fear and anger many are feeling in our country. I believe we need to focus on the real challenges that are making people worried \u2013 housing, jobs and the cost of living \u2013 rather than ramping up anti-immigrant sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefugeeRefugee charity founder calls Robert Jenrick \u2018xenophobic\u2019 \u2013 video<\/p>\n

In last weekend\u2019s Mail on Sunday, Jenrick cited a series of recent crimes he said had been committed by asylum seekers, writing: \u201cWhen I see these stories, I can\u2019t help but think that it could have been one of my three young daughters. I certainly don\u2019t want my children to share a neighbourhood with immigrant men with backward views who broke into Britain illegally, and about whom we know next to nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his Thought for the Day contribution, Kandiah quoted this passage from Jenrick, adding: \u201cThese words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the government has not criticised Jenrick\u2019s tone, and say the current row is a matter for the BBC, some MPs and others have said Kandiah\u2019s description was accurate.<\/p>\n

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, criticised \u2018immigrant men with backward views who broke into Britain illegally\u2019. Photograph: Tayfun Salc\u0131\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The Labour MP John McDonnell said: \u201cJenrick has become the byword for political opportunism. There is no prejudice he won\u2019t pander to and no harm to our community he won\u2019t risk to further his political career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Si\u00e2n Berry, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion and a former co-leader of the party, condemned Jenrick for his comments and the government for not speaking out against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is 100% xenophobia, drawing on stereotypes to create unnecessary and inaccurate fears,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t call that xenophobic or racist without the person in question kicking off at you, then I don\u2019t know what we\u2019ve learned from the last 80 years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRobert Jenrick knows exactly what he\u2019s doing when he is pushing these buttons, and he does need to be called out on it by everybody possible. I\u2019m daily frustrated by the fact that the Labour government is playing along and not standing up for real British values.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is [a] Labour government for if it isn\u2019t to create a political discourse that backs up what British values really stand for. We\u2019re not a country that rejects immigrants in the way that some people on the right and the far right would like us to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacqueline McKenzie, the head of immigration and asylum at Leigh Day solicitors, called Jenrick\u2019s comments \u201cappalling\u201d. She said: \u201cNot only are his comments xenophobic and without substance, but this is the sort of language that fuels racist tension in an otherwise cohesive society and causes the sorts of attacks on migrants and those who work with them as we are now seeing, and which fans the flames which led to last summer\u2019s riots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is irresponsible for a senior member of the opposition to make such statements. Whereas there are a few high profile cases of asylum seekers who have been arrested for sexual offences, this is not at all representative of those who claim asylum, the vast majority of whom go on to prove that they have fled persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenrick\u2019s office has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The theologian who accused Robert Jenrick of xenophobia on the BBC has invited the shadow justice minister to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-344755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115029033889124286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}