Tories' alarm over MP's remarks on legally settled people

Conservative MPs have complained to party whips after Katie Lam said many legally settled people should be deported to make the UK "culturally coherent", the Guardian has learned.

- Eleni Courea Peter Walker

Lam, who is seen as a rising Tory star, said last weekend she believed "a large number of people" living legally in the UK should have their right to stay revoked and "go home". "What that will leave is a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people," she told the Sunday Times.

Her remarks have triggered alarm among Tory MPs. "If we are using phrases like that, we need to explain what they mean," one said. "Culturally coherent: it's either dog-whistle or it's so vague it's meaningless.

"'Go home' is a chant used by people who are bigoted or racist, so we have to be very careful when using phrases like 'go home' when talking in particular about legal migration. Politicians, especially ones who aspire to be in leadership frontline roles, should use language that is appropriate."