Tory backbencher Philip Davies tells Government it must do dental checks on ‘child’ migrants to stop the abuse of Britain’s generosity
Shipley MP says it is not too much to ask that the unaccompanied children really are children
STOP taking the British people for a ride and start doing dental checks on ‘children’ migrants, was the message to the Government from backbencher Philip Davies today.
The Tory MP for Shipley told the House of Commons his constituents are concerned about the situation since the arrivals started from the Calais Jungle camp this week.
He said: “We agreed to take on child refugees and really it’s not too much to ask of the Government that they are children.
“People only have to see the pictures to see that they are not children.
“The Home Office has admitted that two-thirds that claim to be child refugees are not children.
“Even the Home Office accepts this.
“A large number of my constituents have contacted me to say that we are being taken for fools, taking for a ride and that our generosity is being abused.”
He said the Government needs to get a grip on the situation otherwise the public will lose confidence in the asylum system.
And he said on the Government website there is a section on dental assessments being used to determine how old people are so questioned how the Home Office can say they are unethical.
Immigration minister Robert Goodwill reinforced what the Home Office has said all this week, that it does not use dental checks.
He said: "Where someone is clearly over 18 they will be refused.
"Around 10 per cent of cases are being refused in France."
The minister said the child refugees are interviewed by French and UK officials and they are assessed on the basis of their physical appearance and demeanour.
He said dental checks does not give a true age - with a margin of error of about five years.
And Labour MP for West Ham, Lyn Brown, quoted data that said the dental checks are wrong in about 50 per cent of cases.
Today's discussion in the House of Commons came a day after former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw said he would not have ruled out the move when he ran the Home Office.
Backing the introduction of dental tests to determine the age of 'child' refugees from the Calais Jungle, the ex-minister said the asylum effort would be undermined if it turned out people had been lying about their age in order to gain entry to Britain.
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