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Wera Hobhouse was reelected in Bath, which she has represented since 2017 Image caption: Wera Hobhouse was reelected in Bath, which she has represented since 2017

Bath's Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse has questioned whether the British people are ready to have a first-generation immigrant lead a major political party.

Speaking on BBC One's Sunday Politics West this morning, she said she was regularly referred to as "German-born" Wera Hobhouse, implying that she could not represent the British people.

Even so, she has refused to rule herself out of the contest to succeed Jo Swinson as her party's leader, saying it was a "discussion" she is ready to have.

Wera Hobhouse was born in Hanover, Germany, and moved to the UK in 1990.

She said: "I'm a first generation immigrant and we have just voted for a party that has stoked up anti-immigrant feeling.

"I need to have that discussion of whether being a first-generation immigrant is standing in the way of the Liberal Democrats fighting prejudice and anti-foreigner sentiment.

"Or is it the first thing that will always colour what is going to be said by the Liberal Democrats? That is, 'She is not British, she is German-born.'

"The right-wing press always talks about me as 'German-born Wera Hobhouse.' It's a big issue. I've had it in the Daily Mail and over the years. The underlying thing is that she doesn't speak for the British people."