A Kent MP has told Parliament that would-be migrants arriving after crossing the channel have used razor blades to delibarately damage their fingers to avoid identification.

The Dover MP Natalie Elphicke made the claim during a debate in Parliament on the Government’s Immigration bill.

She said that Border Force officials had told her of the ‘shocking’ practice that underlined the extent to which migrants were determined to reach the UK.

She said there were many ways in which those crossing the Channel sought to destroy whatever documents they had, sometimes by eating them or throwing passports into the sea before they arrived in small boats.

Mrs Elphicke went on to describe how in extreme cases some had, according to border officials “used razor blades to damage and destroy their own fingerprints to avoid identification”.

She said that “at the frontline of my constituency of Dover this is not a matter that would open further migration or about pro-migration dogma; It is a matter which directly affects my constituency and the country’s safety, security and peace of mind”.

In her speech she accused Labour of not supporting constituents when they raised concerns about migrants, claiming they did not believe them and suggested the party could not be trusted to support the efforts to stop the boats crossings in the same way as they could not be trusted on Brexit.

‘It is a matter which directly affects my constituency and the country’s safety, security and peace of mind’

“When migrants run amok and broke into a woman's house before being apprehended in a bedroom, the leader of the Labour group on Dover Council went on TV to cast doubt on the claim, dismissing them as misreporting things,” she claimed.

She went on to say he had further said: “We should be more generous to illegal Channel migrants.”

In a response, Labour issued a statement saying the claims made by the MP were untrue and were a further example of how the MP “liked to blame everyone but herself for the problems facing Dover and Deal”.

The statement added that rather than casting aspersions on hard-working Labour councillors, the MP should back Labour’s approach and take up its plan to address the crisis.

The debate on the bill is reaching its closing stages and has seen the Home Secretary Suella Braverman fend off complaints that the migration plan is not compassionate.

The latest criticism came from Britain's human rights watchdog which said it put people at risk of serious harm.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) says the Illegal Migration Bill penalises refugees and could breach international law.

But the home secretary denied this and said it would deter people from making dangerous Channel crossings.

The Illegal Migration Bill cleared its final stages in the House of Commons by 289 votes to 230.

The bill is expected to face greater opposition in the Lords where it could be amended or delayed.