A former Church of England priest claims six or seven asylum seekers will be taken to his church to be baptized as they appeal against being denied UK residency.

Reverend James Firth served as Vicar of St Cuthbert’s Church, Darlington from 2018 to 2020.

He has since left Anglican Church and joined the Free Church of England.

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The “conveyor belt” he previously claimed shelter Former Bishop Paul Butler described seekers of church baptism as “out of touch with reality”.

Reverend Firth is giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the topics of asylum decision-making and conversion to Christianity.

The meeting was held as follows clapham chemical attackthe suspect Abdul Ezedi was granted asylum, it is understood, in part thanks to a priest who pledged his fidelity to Christianity after converting to it.

Mr Firth told the committee that when he joined St Cuthbert’s College in 2018, the number of asylum seeker baptisms was “astonishing”.

He said there was “a large number of young male asylum seekers, almost a group” and he began to investigate “further”.

“After these baptisms, week after week, large numbers of mainly young Iranian and Syrian male asylum seekers were brought to me,” he said.

The pastor added: “On one occasion, six or seven people were brought to me and said they needed baptism.”

Rev Frith said the men had been brought to him by a “specific person” who he believed had a right to remain in the UK after applying for asylum.

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In his previous rebuttal, Bishop Butler said: “A check of diocesan records quickly revealed… a total of 15 [13 adults, two infants] Over the past 10 years, a number of possible asylum seekers have been baptized.

“Seven of them were baptized by Mr. Firth himself.”

He said if Pastor Firth felt something was “off” he should report it.

Rev Frith told the committee he had “pressed the pause button” on baptisms and said he did not have access to parish registers and therefore could not comment on the data provided by the former bishop.

He said the vast majority, if not all, of those who seek baptism as asylum seekers do so after their initial asylum claims have already failed.

The priest added that the church turned on him instead of solving the problem.

Rev Frith also claimed that he was asked by lawyers to give evidence before the Court of Appeal for people undergoing asylum proceedings and was sometimes asked to “say more” on behalf of the appellant.

Representatives from the Anglican, Catholic and Baptist churches also gave evidence to the committee, but were unable to provide nationwide figures on how many people seeking baptism were asylum seekers.

Reverend Steve Dinning, of the British Baptist Union, described the situation at a church in Weymouth near the Beebe Stockholm barge where male asylum seekers are berthed.

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He said about 40 people in total were on the barge heading to church, with 25 to 30 heading to Weymouth Baptist Church. About seven people were baptized.

Speaking to the committee, he urged councilors to restrain their rhetoric, saying politicians’ comments were causing “damage” to the Weymouth community and saying people needed to realize the consequences of their actions.