The British government is discriminating against Christian refugees from the Middle East, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Lord Carey of Clifton accused “politically correct” officials of being “institutionally biased” against Christians.

The former archbishop, who was the most senior cleric in the Church of England from 1991 to 2002, added that less than two per cent of Syrian asylum seekers offered asylum in the UK were Christian, despite Christians making up 10 per cent of the country’s pre-war population.

“In the run-up to Easter British taxpayers will be appalled by this institutional bias against Christians by politically correct officials,” Lord Carey said.

“In this the British government is not just breaking its manifesto pledge to look after Christian refugees, it also appears to be breaking the law.”

He cited legal advice from barrister Paul Diamond who said the programme may constitute “indirect discrimination” under British and European Union law.

He also said Christians find it more difficult to access camps run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees because they are often run by officials “hostile to minorities”.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Carey said: “These camps are invariably run by Muslim officials who are often hostile to minorities – especially Muslims who have converted to Christianity.

“So the refugees who are too scared to enter the camps lose out on both food aid and opportunities to find sanctuary in safer countries.”

The government’s response, he added, has been far too weak.

“In my experience government ministers understand the problem. Yet their well-meaning efforts to correct the imbalance are being blocked by often well-meaning but hopelessly politically-correct officials in Whitehall.

“They claim that to support Christians is to discriminate against others, but Christians are disproportionately persecuted and they are discriminated against by the very policies which aim to secure equal treatment.”

Last month, Lord Carey also hit the headlines after comparing U.S. President Donald Trump to the Good Samaritan for “giving a voice to the silent”.

“Many will recoil at the identification of Donald Trump as the Good Samaritan but why not, why not?” he said.