What is The Clewer Initiative's involvement in this process and what are the next steps?
Caroline Virgo, the director of The Clewer Initiative, explains: "We are deeply concerned by some of the proposals in the Illegal Migration Bill and are monitoring the situation closely. We work closely with our colleagues in the Church of England public policy and parliamentary affairs teams in our engagement on modern slavery policy.
"The Bill is presently in the House of Lords and we are engaging with the Lords Spiritual (the bishops in the House of the Lords) on their interventions. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Gloucester have already voiced some concerns, both in the House of Lords at Second Reading of the Bill and in meetings with Ministers and officials. The Bishop of Bristol is supporting a string of amendments on the modern slavery provisions which are due to be debated in the coming weeks.
"We always seek to engage positively with both government and opposition parties so that legislation helps to eliminate the evils of modern slavery."
You can follow all the interventions made on the Bill by the Lords Spiritual at https://churchinparliament.org/tag/illegal-migration-bill-2023-2/
