Tory MP hits 'new low' with 'heckle' about missing migrant children

A Tory MP has been criticised for making a pretty grim comment about missing asylum-seeking children.

During PMQs on Wednesday, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq raised a query after it was revealed 200 children have gone missing from Home Office hotels.

She asked the prime minister Rishi Sunak: "Ministers have admitted that they no idea of the whereabouts of these children. Does he still think the UK is a safe haven for vulnerable children?”

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Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis then reportedly heckled: “Well they shouldn’t have come here illegally”.“

MP Peter Kyle posted about the incident on Twitter:

Gullis later defended his comments. The MP for Stoke-On-Trent North told The Independent that “Labour’s open door approach to illegal migration shows they’re out of touch with the public.”

He said the party was “out of ideas on migration”, adding: “I fully support the prime minister in stopping migrants claiming asylum who have entered the UK illegally, deporting them to safe third world countries like Rwanda instead, and smash apart the vile smuggling gangs.”

Robert Jenrick, minister for immigration, told the Commons on Tuesday that the government were working with local authorities to track down the missing children, but MPs raised concerns that “nothing is happening” to find those being kidnapped by gangs.

More than 4,600 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been housed in hotels since July 2021, but 440 have gone missing during that time, Mr Jenrick revealed.

Some 200 children are still unaccounted for, and around 88 per cent of those are of Albanian origin.

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