Advertisement

MP slammed for saying missing children 'shouldn't have come here illegally'

Jonathan Gullis reportedly said that children that have gone missing from hotels 'shouldn't have come here illegally' <i>(Image: PA)</i>
Jonathan Gullis reportedly said that children that have gone missing from hotels 'shouldn't have come here illegally' (Image: PA)

Celebrities and an anti-fascist group have criticised a Conservative MP for saying children who have gone missing from Home Office hotels “shouldn’t have come here illegally”.

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove, reported that Jonathan Gullis made the remark during Prime Minister’s Questions, when the welfare of 200 missing unaccompanied migrant children was raised in Parliament.

Some 76 of those are missing from a hotel in Hove, Sussex Police confirmed.

He claimed that the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North said: “Well, they shouldn’t have come here illegally”.

“Just when you think you’ve heard it all, the Tory party find a new low,” Mr Kyle said on Twitter.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate reacted to Mr Gullis’ remarks and said: “We are shocked and dismayed that he has used the disappearance of 200 unaccompanied migrant children to try and score a political point.”

On LBC, commentator James O’Brien said Mr Gullis’ heckle was “inhumane, disgusting and despicable”.

He said: “It is not intellectually defensible to greet news of 200 abducted children with contempt and insult.”

Comedian Sue comedian Sue Perkins also expressed her anger at the comments made by the Conservative MP and described him as “f***ing monstrous.”

Director James Moran took to Twitter to call for Mr Gullis to be ousted from Parliament for his “sickening” comments.

“200 missing kids and he sits there on his lazy a**e shouting that it’s their own fault - get him out,” he said.

Mr Gullis has been approached for comment.