A BBC guest has accused Robert Jenrick of xenophobia after the shadow minister said illegal immigration made him fearful for his daughters’ safety.

During BBC Radio 4 Today Programme’s Thought of the Day slot, Dr Krish Kandiah, a refugee charity founder, said Mr Jenrick’s words echoed “a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia”.

Last week, Mr Jenrick wrote that he did not want his children “to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally”.

It comes after recent protests outside migrant hotels including in Epping, Essex, where an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl days after arriving in Britain.

In his scripted broadcast on Wednesday morning, Dr Kandiah said: “A front-page story in the Mail on Sunday quoted shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick talking about his fears for his young daughters.

“He said: ‘I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally and about whom we know next to nothing.’

“These words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia.”