A BOLTON MP has defended his decision to share a video on social media which branded the Black Lives Matters movement a “leftist lie”.

Conservative Chris Green criticised the organisation which has led protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in the US one month ago.

But the Bolton West MP said he recognised that there are “legitimate concerns” that many people are “disadvantaged” in society here in the UK. He said: “I support black lives matters – lower case. I support black lives matter because I do believe there are, in organisations, very significant problems.

“I do believe they are disproportionately affected, negatively affected, by certain aspects of society.

“But I don’t believe that a ‘them and us’ approach is the right way to deal with it. I don’t believe that the Black Lives Matter campaign, and what they’re saying in the headline, I don’t think this is all they’re about.

“Their manifesto talks about the end of the western nuclear family and about defunding the police. We can see that in New York city – £1bn has been taken from the police. We can see that in other protests, we can see that in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed, the council there has voted to defund the police.

“When I talk to my constituents, this is not what they want. No one is saying, ‘I want less policing or fewer cops on the police’. Everyone is saying we want more.

“So I think we have to distinguish between a political movement and the legitimate concerns that many people in society are disadvantaged.”

The parliamentarian has shared a series of social media posts criticising the Black Lives Matter movement in recent weeks.

Mr Green did delete some “problematic” tweets over the weekend in which he shared a video by a poet accused of anti-Semitism in some of his other poems. But the Bolton West MP said he does not regret sharing a video last week which had the “provocative” headline of “Black Lives Matter is a leftist lie”.

He said: “What the two men on video were saying was, look, if you believe that black lives matter, then all black lives matter. You can’t just pick and choose what’s politically convenient.

“Sometimes I have said all lives matter, but I’m happy to say and support black lives matter.

“I agree with it, I agree with its values, but I distinguish those values from the organisation. I’m a Christian, I believe we’re all made in the image of God and that we’re all made equal, so that’s my starting point when talking about this whole issue.”

The comments come after some of his constituents complained that they had been blocked by the MP on Twitter.

Mr Green said the social media platform was not the right place to discuss contentious issues and invited constituents to email or write to him instead.

He said: “There’s a few reasons for blocking people. People I find offensive – that’s one perfectly reasonable reason to block people, but that’s not everyone.

“Sometimes, it might be that there’s a little bit of a pile on. Because everyone’s got their own Twitter networks and they’ve got hundreds or thousands of followers. One thing snowballs, so to speak, and that can create a problem.

“And then random people from right across the country can all pile on. So, if you do a short-term block, that can reduce that in the short-term. It’s not a lifetime ban.”