CHRISTCHURCH MP Sir Christopher Chope has defended his decision to block legislation relating to female genital mutilation crimes.

The veteran Conservative politician objected to the private members' bill going to a second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

This sparked criticism on social media just months after he faced severe disapproval for similar actions relating to the 'upskirting bill'.

The FGM bill Sir Christopher objected to had been put forward by Lord Berkeley of Knighton.

After the objection, Lord Berkeley said on Twitter that he was "furious" with the Christchurch MP's "disgraceful" behaviour.

He added: "I am hoping public opinion will force this issue. After all, as reprehensible as it is, it hardly compares to mutilation of young girls' genitals.

"Chope should be deselected if his constituents care about human decency and honour."

Labour MP Luke Pollard added: "In a shock to no one Christopher Chope MP has just shouted object to the female genital mutilation bill getting a second reading."

Sir Christopher told the Daily Echo the backlash on social media largely involved people who had been "virtue signalling" and playing "party politics".

He also said the substance of the bill would do nothing to bring about prosecutions against those involved in FGM.

"As far as I'm concerned we need to be prosecuting the perpetrators," said Sir Christopher.

"This bill would not make a difference to that. The law is already there, it just needs somebody to implement it.

"This attempt to change the procedure isn't going to make a difference. The substance of these bills is important.

"Terrible things are happening and there hasn't been a single prosecution. The Government needs to be held responsible.

"Individuals will portray me as somebody who is soft on FGM, but nothing could be further from the truth.

"Hopefully a positive from this will be that more people become aware of the fact the Government has been incompetent. There has not been a prosecution while the issue is still so wide spread."

The FGM bill was one of many shouted down by Sir Christopher in Friday's session, while several of his own private members' bills faced similar treatment.

Sir Christopher said Lord Berkely's bill had only been brought into the Commons on Tuesday without many background details "key" to debating the matter.

The 71-year-old said the ballot system for private members' bill was a lottery and Lord Berkeley's bill was at the bottom of Friday's list.

He added: "The idea a bill should just go through because a particular group of people think it should get priority should not be the case. It is not the way things work.

"Bills have to be discussed properly. When this happened on the 'upskirting bill' certain issues and areas came to light, which would not have been the case had it not been debated."