I have 12,000 Twitter followers and they all hate me, says Shipley MP Philip Davies

Speaking during the second reading debate of a Private Member’s Bill which seeks to deport all foreign nationals who are convicted of a crime in the UK and sentenced to jail Mr Davies attacked judges for failing to follow existing rules on deportation.

Currently a deportation order can be made where a foreign offender has been convicted in the UK and sentenced to more than 12 months in jail.

But Mr Davies, a Tory who who represents the constituency of Shipley, said the regulations have led to “dishonest sentencing” where jail terms have been “deliberately manipulated” so as to avoid the deportation trigger.

He said: “It seems to me the law here is clear: That if you get sentenced to prison for 12 months you get deported... there is no problem with the clarity of the law.

“The problem is the judges manipulating the sentence to actually show a wilful disregard for the law.”

Philip Hollobone, the Tory MP for Kettering, intervened and said he was sure that most judges in the UK would have Mr Davies on their Twitter feed and as such would be aware of his criticism.

Mr Davies then prompted laughter in the House as he jokingly replied: “I fear that my Twitter feed wouldn’t be enough to do this.

“I have 12,000 followers on Twitter, all of whom hate me.

“So I’m not entirely sure that would actually get the message across to my targeted audience.”