A borough councillor has been condemned after she said children who do not speak English at home may struggle in school, and that their parents should be encouraged to speak English with them.

Councillor Caryl Sydney-Smith's remarks have caused concern and anger from her political opponents.

But she insits she has personal experience of that situation and how difficult it can be.

At a discussion of how Swindon measures up to the government’s 'Levelling Up' agenda at the council’s scrutiny committee, Coun Sydney-Smith, a Conservative member, said youngsters who don’t get to use much English at home can struggle when it comes to schooling.

She said: “I’m a governor at Oliver Tomkins School where many children don’t speak English as a first language.

“We need to encourage children to speak English at home as they just don’t understand it when they get to school.”

Although not much was said during the meeting, afterwards Labour councillor Marina Strinkovsky expressed her displeasure.

She tweeted: “Shocking comment from a Tory committee member just now: schools in Swindon are under-preforming because “students’ parents don’t speak English at home”. English is my third language, and I did NOT learn it via my school dumping the responsibility for teaching me on my mum and dad.”

She followed that up with: “It’s just dog whistle anti-migrant propaganda, isn’t it - you can’t get a council house cause the immigrants get them all, you can’t get a GP appointment because immigrants get them all, you can’t get a decent school for your kids because immigrants drag standards down.”

Coun Strinkovsky declined to name Coun Sydney-Smith, despite calls from some to do so.

The Conservative councillor said her concern was for the welfare and education of the children, and nothing else, and said she had been in the same situation herself as a young girl: “Welsh was my first language as a child and when we moved to England when I was six I found it very frightening going to school not understanding the language.

“My parents helped me at home to learn English. As a school governor I have observed that children can struggle to succeed at school if they cannot speak English adequately.

“I was seeking to highlight the importance of supporting those young people with English, as I was, so they can excel, and was asking what more we can do to reach that objective.”