Andy Street, the Tory Mayor of the West Midlands, has criticised a Conservative MP after they suggested there were religious “no-go” areas in Birmingham.
Mr Street said politicians in Westminster needed to “stop the nonsense slurs and experience the real world” as he responded to comments made by Paul Scully in the wake of the Lee Anderson row.
Mr Scully, a former minister for London, told BBC Radio London: “The point I am 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, mainly because of people using, abusing in many ways, their religion to, because it is not the doctrine of Islam, to espouse what some of these people are saying. That, I think, is the concern that needs to be addressed.”
Mr Street responded on Twitter: “The idea that Birmingham has a ‘no-go’ zone is news to me, and I suspect the good people of Sparkhill.
“It really is time for those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs and experience the real world. I for one am proud to lead the most diverse place in Britain.”
