The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and 17 other Christian leaders from throughout the UK have written to MPs urging them to accept changes to the Nationality and Borders Bill.

The Bill returned to the House of Commons in April to allow MPs to discuss amendments proposed by the House of Lords.

In the letter the church leaders, who also include the Rev Ruth Harvey, leader of the Iona Community, say that the Bill ‘fails to uphold the principles and values of the UK by creating hostility and fostering discrimination against some of the most vulnerable people in the world’.

They continue: “Only in the last few weeks we have witnessed the seemingly limitless compassion and commitment shown by UK citizens as they have welcomed Ukrainian refugees into their lives and homes. Yet the Nationality and Borders Bill directly contradicts this approach. We find it challenging to understand how the policies within the Bill will work in practice, except that they will cause hardship, criminalise innocent people and fracture families.”

The letter urges MPs to accept the changes to the Bill passed by the Lords, which it says will ‘bring it in line with international convention, compassion and care for our common humanity’.