LBC Female leaders debate: We cannot dump children who travel to Syria on other countries

There is no luck for the female debate on LBC – Ukip’s Suzanne Evans has had to pull out because of a sore throat and Labour’s Harriet Harman and Nicky Morgan sound like they might soon follow suit.

Although it’s a quiet debate it is an interesting and measured one. They are discussing children who go out to Syria.

Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is asked whether the British girls who traveled to Syria were victims or criminals. She says that the children that go to Syria are groomed by people who are already out there. I think at the age of 15 i suspect that a lot of these young girls did not know what they were letting themselves in for.

She says that it is the community’s responsibility to ensure they are not tempted by “siren voices from abroad”.

Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem home office minister, said that the ‘us and them’ attitude to the girls who went to Syria was awful. “They’re all our children. We need to support, stand up and reach out to each other.”

Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader, says it is nonsense to take their passports away and “dump” them somewhere, they are our problem she says and we need to take responsiblity for them.

She adds: “If they have committed a criminal offence theyb should be put in prison, if they have not they shouldn’t”

Diane James from Ukip, standing in for Suzanne Evans, says: “For me and for Ukip, it’s about the multicultural agenda. We haven’t done enough to integrate people into British life.

“We need to have a carrot and stick to convince them not to join these sort of groups. Taking away passports, for example, could be a stick.”