DUDLEY North MP Marco Longhi sparked controversy by claiming ‘immigrants not adopting British values’ are a cause of fly-tipping.

The Conservative MP, who has already told his staff not to deal with asylum seekers, says immigration is having environmental impacts in parts of Dudley.

He highlighted the St Thomas’s area where he says people have lost pride in their environment.

In a post on Facebook Mr Longhi said: “St Thomas’s ward is the most littered and fly-tipped area in Dudley.

“However, this was not always the case. A few decades ago, people in the area had pride in their local community. So, what has changed?

“A long term effect of immigration is the creation of parallel cultures and values at odds with our British values.

“This has led to run-down areas where people have complete disregard of their local community and are living in conditions that you would not expect in modern Britain.”

Mr Longhi says many immigrants have integrated into the ‘British way of life’ but too many ‘don’t have a basic respect for our area’.

His remarks prompted a blistering attack from Dudley’s Labour leader, Cllr Pete Lowe, who says with a general election looming Mr Longhi is blaming others for cuts to council funding from the Conservative government in Westminster.

Cllr Lowe said: “This time our desperate MP for Dudley attempts to blame fly-tipping as a result of local ‘environmental impact of immigration’, conveniently avoiding the £122m cut from Dudley’s budget nationally, and our local Tory council’s failure of a plan to address and prosecute those responsible.

“My Britain is a culture of unity, where we celebrate our diversity and do not scapegoat in order to excuse the failings of themselves.

“To be clear, it is the Tory government and council that has created this blight on our communities and it is to them we look to provide the funding and support to address.”

Cllr Lowe added he was looking forward to a general election which would give voters a chance to ‘clear the streets’ of Mr Longhi.

Mr Longhi said: “I disagree that it is a ‘council’s failure’ to deal with this issue, if you walk around St. Thomas’s ward and walk around any other ward within my constituency you will see a stark difference.

“Fly tipping does happen elsewhere, of course. But the difference between the areas is stark.

“There is almost no respect for public realm and neighbours in many areas in St Thomas’s ward. ”

Dudley Council’s Conservative cabinet member for environmental services, Cllr Damian Corfield, said: “I’ve increased the fines to the maximum level allowed by the government and we have state of the art CCTV coverage throughout the borough.

“When caught perpetrators are named and shamed and fined heavily.”

In February the government announced a funding package that provided £60bn for town halls over the next financial year.

Levelling up secretary, Michael Gove MP, said:  “This funding package represents an increase of over nine percent for councils on last year, ensuring a fair deal for local government that reflects the vital work councils do to provide key services on which we all rely.”