ASYLUM CLAIMS OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY'S PROSPECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE FOR WELLINGBOROUGH

EDM number 681 in 1999-00, proposed by Paul Stinchcombe on 02/05/2000.

That this House notes that the Conservative Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Wellingborough has issued a press release entitled 'Bogus asylum-seekers swamp Northamptonshire', in which he claims that he has visited a nursery school in Wellingborough that has seen the level of language support staff for its ethnic minority children substantially reduced, as these staff have been switched to the children of asylum-seekers; notes that the headteacher of that nursery school has condemned the claim as 'untrue' and has written to the candidate to express the school's shock at his actions, stating that 'We have worked very hard over the years to promote racial harmony in our nursery and are shocked that you have used a goodwill visit to provide false evidence to stir up hostile feelings against a vulnerable section of our community'; condemns outright all lies and half-truths about asylum-seekers because of the racial hostility that they inflame; and, accordingly, calls upon the Leader of the Opposition to condemn the untrue and inflammatory comments of the Conservative Party's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Wellingborough.

This motion has been signed by a total of 100 MPs.