Representatives from the six major religions are among more than 1,000 faith leaders to have signed a letter to the prime minister urging him to reconsider the controversial nationality and borders bill, which goes through the report stage in the House of Lords today (Monday).

The leaders, representing the UK’s major faith groups, say they are “horrified and appalled about the potential repercussions” of the bill and called on Boris Johnson to make urgent changes “even at this late stage”.

Signatories include the former archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed, and the senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism, Jonathan Wittenberg.

The faith leaders say the 11th-hour plea is a crucial last opportunity to make changes. It states: “While there is still conflict and injustice in the world, there will always be desperate people needing to seek sanctuary from war, persecution and suffering. We cannot close our door on them, but this bill does just that.

“We assert that the values that bind UK citizens together, especially those concerning human dignity and life, will be fundamentally damaged by this bill.”

The letter calls on the prime minister to make substantial changes to the bill. They include abandoning the government’s plan to criminalise and restrict the rights of all people arriving in the UK seeking refugee protection outside pre-arranged schemes, including those coming via irregular routes, such as by boats or lorries. The signatories say this policy was made “without a basis in evidence or morality”.

They also call on the government to urgently address the bill’s failure to establish safe routes, which would help people seeking sanctuary to reach the UK, saying that this failure fundamentally undermines its aims. They urge the prime minister to be “compassionate and ambitious” in opening schemes such as family reunion, resettlement and routes for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

The letter calls on the prime minister to show “political leadership” and promote “compassion, human life and dignity”. Faith leaders have asked the prime minister to meet to discuss their concerns.

The letter was coordinated by the ecumenical Joint Public Issues Team, made up of the Methodist Church in Britain, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church, working with the Church of Scotland.