Tory’s Bible quote on Brexit ‘deeply offensive to Christians’

Labour’s Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) criticised Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) for his comments in the run-up to Easter.

Shortly after the legislation put forward by Yvette Cooper passed its final Commons hurdle late on Wednesday, Mr Francois (pictured above) called it a “constitutional outrage”.

The leading Eurosceptic said the Bill had been “rammed through in four hours”, then quoted from the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, adding: “The public won’t be impressed by this. Forgive them father, they know not what they do.”

He was criticised by some MPs in the chamber at the time but not by the Speaker John Bercow, and on Thursday morning at Business Questions, Mr Sheerman (pictured below) called for a debate on “the way we treat each other, the respect, the language that we use”.

He said to Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom: “Could she particularly bear in mind something that was very offensive said last night by the member for Rayleigh and Wickford, when at this time we are in Lent and approaching Easter, when he said, ‘Forgive them father for they know not what they do’.

“To a Christian, and I’m a former parliamentary church warden, it was deeply offensive to use that phrase in the context of a debate on Brexit. It was offensive, and I do hope that we can have discussion about what is and what isn’t appropriate to say in this House.”