Labour’s ex-home secretary Jack Straw backs introduction of dental tests to check age of Calais Jungle ‘child’ refugees
The former Cabinet minister insisted he would not have ruled out the move when he ran the Home Office
FORMER Labour former home secretary Jack Straw has backed the introduction of dental tests to determine the age of ‘child’ refugees from the Calais Jungle.
The ex-minister insisted he would not have ruled out the move when he ran the Home Office, saying the asylum effort would be undermined if it turned out people had been lying about their age in order to gain entry to Britain.
Such calls for additional testing on migrants’ teeth have provoked a political fire storm, despite pictures of youths arriving in the UK from France showing them seemingly looking older than 17.
Mr Straw said: "Officials made a judgement, we have to accept that judgement, but if there is a case for dental checks, I would certainly not as home secretary have ruled that out.
"What I would say to those supporting an increase in numbers of refugees to come here is this: if it turns out those coming in here are over 18 - and the truth will emerge after a while - then it will undermine public confidence in the whole system.
"So having tests, providing they are not too intrusive and invasive, is actually a sensible thing to do for everyone concerned.
"Most of them are economic migrants and you have to be pretty firm about this.
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"Part of the problem with the issue of whether they are children is you have got to test their age because you will understandably always get quite a lot of people who, knowing that it's easier to get in because they are younger, will pretend they are under 18 when they are not.
"Some of those who are at Calais are genuine refugees but an awful lot are economic migrants," Mr Straw told the .
The British Dental Association said the demands for age tests were "inappropriate and unethical".
Dentists also said that such tests would not be reliable enough to determine if the refugees were children or not.
Tory MP David Davies was accused in the House of Commons of fuelling "xenophobic attacks" after he said the teenagers "don't look like children" and should be given dental checks to prove their age.
The SNP's Neil Gray also labelled Mr Davies's remarks "disgraceful".
The row began after the first 14 children arrived in south London earlier this week ahead of the Jungle camp being demolished.
Many expressed disbelief that some of the supposed teenagers were under 18, sparking a debate about the methods of deciding which migrants are eligible under the new asylum scheme.
Figures from the Home Office showed that more than two thirds of refugees who had their ages assessed were found to be adults, despite claiming to be children.
More are expected to arrive soon, after a team of British officials were sent to Calais to help French authorities speed up the transfer of minors ahead of the settlement’s dismantling.