A Labour MP has said she has been stopped more times because of her ethnicity inside the Palace of Westminster since being elected than she ever was outside.

Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton), who is British-born and of Bangladeshi origin, said she presumed it was because "my face does not fit", as she spoke out against the different treatment people receive because of their skin pigmentation.

Ms Huq, speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on the effect of police stop-and-search powers on BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities, told MPs: "This sort of in-built suspicion of people that they can be stopped going about their lawful business pervades at all levels of society.

"I can state here today that I have been stopped more times in this place since my election in 2015 than I ever had in 43 years outside.

"This still occurs on a daily basis, presumably because my face does not fit."

She said the last time she told the person who stopped her that she has "every right to be here", "a complaint was made through the Serjeant at Arms Office against me".

Ms Huq also told the debate that she was strip-searched while part of a cross-party delegation visiting to Israel.

She said: "Last year, when I was on a cross-party delegation to the State of Israel, I was told that quite often the person of colour in the delegation is the one that gets the problem. I thought as an MP this was not going to happen.

"I won't go into the long details of being strip-searched at Ben Gurion Airport, but that happened to me as a Member of Parliament - these things do happen."

By Harriet Line