FORMER Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he would not have ruled out dental tests to determine the age of child refugees from the Calais “Jungle” camp if he was still home secretary.

Calls for such procedures to be performed on children seeking to join family members in the UK provoked a political fire storm this week.

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Mr Straw insisted he would not have ruled out the move when he ran the Home Office and said every over-18 migrant who comes in to the country takes the place of a legitimate child in need of refuge.

Mr Straw, who was home secretary between May 1997 and June 2001, said: “Officials made a judgment, we have to accept that judgment, but if there is a case for dental checks, I would certainly not as home secretary have ruled that out.

“What I would say to those supporting an increase in numbers of refugees to come here is this: if it turns out those coming in here are over 18, and the truth will emerge after a while, then it will undermine public confidence in the whole system.

“So having tests, providing they are not too intrusive and invasive, is actually a sensible thing to do for everyone concerned.

“Most of them are economic migrants and you have to be pretty firm about this.

“Part of the problem with the issue of whether they are children is you have got to test their age because you will understandably always get quite a lot of people who, knowing that it’s easier to get in because they are younger, will pretend they are under 18 when they are not.

“Some of those who are at Calais are genuine refugees but an awful lot are economic migrants. For every over-18 migrant who comes in takes the place of a legitimate child in need of refuge. Every over-18 migrant who comes in to the country takes the place of a legitimate child in need of refuge.”

The British Dental Association (BDA) said the demands for age tests were “inappropriate and unethical”. Dentists also said that such tests would not be reliable enough to determine if the refugees were children or not.

Tory MP David Davies was accused in the House of Commons of fuelling “xenophobic attacks” after he said the teenagers “don’t look like children” and should be given dental checks to prove their age.