A furious Tory backlash has erupted after one of the party’s senior MPs claimed there were religious “no-go areas” in London and Birmingham.
Former minister Paul Scully said people were concerned about “changing neighbourhoods” in their areas.
Speaking to BBC Radio London, he said: “The point I’m trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets, for example, where there are ‘no-go’ areas, parts of Birmingham, Sparkhill, where there are ‘no-go’ areas, mainly because of doctrine, people using, abusing in many ways, their religion because it’s not the doctrine of this land, to espouse what some of these people are saying.”
But Andy Street, the Tory mayor of Birmingham, said Scully’s remarks were “nonsense slurs” about his city.
“I for one am proud to lead the most diverse place in Britain,” he said.
On Sky News this morning, legal migration minister Tom Pursglove also took Scully to task.
He said: “I don’t recognise the depiction that was set out in Paul’s comments, and as government we take it really seriously that we need to help people integrate into society.”
Asked by presenter Kay Burley if Scully should withdraw his remarks, the minister said: “It would be best if that comment was withdrawn. I don’t recognise that as being the situation in London or in Birmingham.”
The row follows the controversy over Lee Anderson’s attack on Sadiq Khan in which he said the London mayor had “given our capital city away to his mates”.
The former Tory deputy chairman has been stripped of the Tory whip, but insisted he will not apologise for his comments.