Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer criticised for asylum seeker claim

An MP's claim that her office was "besieged" by illegal asylum seekers is "ridiculous", campaigners have said.

Jill Mortimer, Conservative MP for Hartlepool, made the comment at Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions and said they should be "expelled".

The Mary Thompson Fund, which supports refugees, said such comments fuelled racism and hate crimes.

In response to the criticisms, Mrs Mortimer told the BBC she stood by her remarks and spoke from experience.

Mrs Mortimer, Hartlepool's MP since 2021, told the House of Commons: "Every week my office is besieged by asylum seekers, my staff are intimidated by young men.

"The fact is most of them are illegal migrants who should be expelled."

She continued by calling on PM Rishi Sunak to take action to deliver enforcement and "ensure that people who have no right to be here are expelled".

She added: "Enough is enough. I want these people out of Hartlepool now."

Mrs Mortimer also said on her Facebook page that asylum seekers were "not going to be housed" in any Hartlepool hotel, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Pete Widlinski, chairman of the Mary Thomas Fund which operates in the Tees Valley, said Mrs Mortimer's comments were "totally ridiculous" and her claim that the majority of people were illegal migrants "just isn't true".

He said about 86% of asylum seekers were granted refuge in the UK but it was "not an easy process".

"It's almost as if [Mrs Mortimer] has a preconceived idea that they are all illegal migrants which they are not," he said.

He said what she said had had a "massive impact" and she had a "duty and responsibility to look after people".

Mr Widlinski, who has worked with refugees and asylum seekers for more than 30 years, told the BBC: "To use that sort language just increases racism and hate crimes and does nothing for good community relations.

"I'm really angry about that."

He said communities often benefit from refugees becoming settled there, adding: "People coming from war-torn areas need support and some understanding and they are paying us back tenfold."

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said the comments were "unhelpful" and did not "reflect the reality of what is happening".

He said people seeking asylum were "fleeing terror" and "bombs and bullets", with about three quarters allowed to stay in the UK.

Mr Solomon said people who had asylum claims rejected should "of course" be returned to the countries they came from with "dignity and humanity".

Mrs Mortimer told the BBC charities who "support genuine refugees" should support what she was saying, adding: "In that we want to remove illegal migrants because they are taking resources and blocking up the system for people who have a genuine claim to be here."

She said she was "very sad" with the negative reaction to her comments, saying: "I don't believe what I said was hostile or damaging."

She said she had spoken from her experience and that of her team, adding there had been occasions when her female office manager had been alone with "20 men" trying to "force" their way in.

She also said when her team had looked at the cases being raised, "often they have been refused asylum in the past and therefore have no right to still be here".

The MP said the positive feedback supporting what she said "outweighed the negative ones tenfold", adding: "If you say anything against the left-wing rhetoric they rise up and try to cancel you out and stop you speaking.

"I'm just speaking out for what is right and legal for the people in my town."

Speaking in response to Mrs Mortimer at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunak said: "This government is doing everything we can to tackle illegal migration and the harm it causes by removing those with no right to be here in the UK.

"We are returning thousands of people more this year than we have done in the past.

"We will continue to use every avenue at our disposal to ensure that it is only this country and this government who decides who come here."

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