The Archbishop of York, alongside other religious leaders in the United Kingdom, has called for the government to reinstate refugee resettlement programmes that were halted during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

The second-highest-ranking member of the Church of England, the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell wrote alongside other faith leaders that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government should resume the refugee schemes “immediately”.

“Since the First World War, the United Kingdom’s refugee resettlement schemes have proved a vital lifeline to tens of thousands of people who have come to the UK escaping some of the world’s most brutal conflicts and regimes,” Archbishop Cottrell and others wrote in a letter seen by The Telegraph.

“We are calling on the Prime Minister and the Home Office to restart these safe and legal resettlement routes immediately,” the letter added.

The two programmes the faith leaders are referencing are the Community Sponsorship scheme and the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which saw approximately 20,000 Syrians relocated throughout the UK. Both programmes were launched by former Prime Minister David Cameron during the height of the European Migrant Crisis.

The two refugee programmes were temporarily paused during the China virus pandemic.

The director of UK Welcomes Refugees, Bekele Woyecha organised the letter, which was co-signed by Harun Khan, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, the director of Liberal Judaism Rabbi Charley Baginsky, and Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster Paul McAleenan.

They argued that Britain should “shoulder this responsibility and continue the UK’s proud tradition of offering sanctuary and a safe home to some of the most vulnerable people in the world”.

“The UK is a country respected globally for offering sanctuary to those who need it, and we cannot step back,” he said.

The faith leaders claimed that there are 60 churches throughout the country that are waiting for the programme to be reinstated in order to house a family from Syria, having spent thousands of pounds Sterling in preparation for hosting the refugees.

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell was installed in his position in the Church of England in July of this year, and has been described as a “liberal moderniser”.

Since becoming the second highest ranking member of the CoE, Cottrell has been outspokenly progressive, claiming in July that the church is “overly-dominated” by privileged white men. Ironically, Cottrell replaced a black traditionalist Bishop in his York seat.

“The leadership of the Church of England is still too white, and I hope under my watch we’ll see further changes on that,” he said.

In line with the letter sent this week, he previously stated that it is his belief “that God is calling us to be a Church of glorious and profligate diversity”.

In a stunning example of his woke beliefs he claimed that Jesus would have joined the Black Lives Matter protests, saying that “Jesus was a black man,” adding: “and he was born into a persecuted group in an occupied country.”

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