Theresa May has been urged to intervene to stop a domestic abuse victim's family being deported, amid genital mutilation fears for the woman's daughter.
SNP MP Hannah Bardell described the abuse one of her Livingston constituents has suffered at the hands of her estranged husband, including her face being "smashed with an iPad", for refusing the genital mutilation of her three-year-old girl.
Ms Bardell warned the girl will be subject to female genital mutilation if the UK Government fails to stop the family being deported.
Mrs May said Home Secretary Amber Rudd was in the Commons to hear the case raised, adding that the "abhorrent" practice of FGM will not be accepted in the UK.
But the PM stopped short of offering her personal guarantee to take action to help Ms Bardell's constituent.
Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, Ms Bardell said: "Her face smashed with an iPad, her body beaten and forced to abort a baby girl.
"This is only some of the domestic abuse my constituent Lola has faced by her estranged husband because she has refused the genital mutilation of her daughter.
"Lola is educated, has a mortgage and had a good job with RBS until the Home Office revoked her right to work.
"I have been writing to the Home Office since March and have got nowhere.
"So will the Prime Minister intervene to stop this family being deported and this three-year-old girl being subject to female genital mutilation?"
Mrs May replied: "The Home Secretary has heard the case you have set out here today.
"The issue of female genital mutilation is one on which I think we're all agreed across this whole House - it's an abhorrent activity, it should not be taking place.
"Great efforts have been made over recent years, both in terms of strengthening the law on female genital mutilation but also on getting information out about this issue and trying to support people in communities where there is a practice of FGM.
"I think the message has to go out from this House, we will not accept FGM in this country."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel