A conservative group has said it wants to “distance” from comments its MP made on Twitter about Ukrainian refugees.
Daniel Kawczynski claimed that “British left-wing parties” were making “illiterate and immoral” calls for the UK to take in more people.
The Shrewsbury and Atcham association said it found the tweet “offensive”.
However, the MP’s position is not to “denigrate” refugees, he added.
The group wrote it was clear Mr Kawczynski’s intention was to “put forward a position where the UK would provide maximum assistance to neighboring countries”.
They added that Twitter’s limitations – where posts are limited to 280 characters – meant his argument could not be “concise” and “the end result was a tweet that many, including us, found offensive”.
Britain has been criticized for taking in about 1,000 refugees so far, but the prime minister has defended the response by saying an upcoming scheme will allow Brits to take in Ukrainians into their homes.
On Wednesday Mr Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, tweeted: “British left parties are calling for the UK to take in more Ukrainian refugees. This is illiterate and immoral.
“When the war is over, Ukrainians must return home to rebuild their country. We should support Ukrainian refugees in frontline states like Poland and Romania.”
It prompted senior Conservative MP Simon Hoare to say he “did not speak for the Tory party”.
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Mr Kawczynski, who has since deleted his tweet, said the priority for the UK government should be “funding countries like Poland to help look after these millions of citizens who have fled tyranny”.
“However, I wanted to underscore the point I made on Twitter that President Putin is considering targeting civilians in residential areas in a bid to foment panic and fear that is leading to the withdrawal of millions of Ukrainians from the region.
“Of course, this will give him the green light in his attempts to either carve out huge geographic junks to be incorporated into Russia, or to control Ukraine as a puppet client state, as he is doing with neighboring Belarus.”
Asked about Mr Hoare’s comments on BBC Radio Shropshire, the MP said: “I think I’ll leave Twitter because you can’t really explain yourself in 240 characters.”
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