TORY backbencher Graham Simpson has been mocked for suggesting there are “no-go areas” in some of Scotland’s cities.

The SNP accused Simpson of ignorance, comparing him to US President Donald Trump.

Simpson, Tory Shadow Minister for Housing, was speaking during the housing debate in the Parliament on Wednesday when he said:“We have heard some right old nonsense from members of other parties – mainly the SNP – who have said that housing is not an issue that Conservatives should talk about. Perhaps they are embarrassed by their own records – they certainly should be.

“That we have in our great cities’ sink estates, no-go areas and people sleeping rough should be a source of shame for the SNP and Labour.”

The SNP said Simpson should urgently clarify his remarks and tell MSPs where the no-go areas were located, or apologise for “lowering the tone of debate”.

MSP James Dornan said: “I was absolutely staggered to hear such ignorant, divisive rhetoric enter into a Holyrood debate.

“While we know that Ruth Davidson’s Tories have lurched ever further to the right, this sort of fearmongering nonsense should have no part to play in our democracy. Most people will scratch their heads at the mention of no-go areas in Scotland’s great cities – we have a rich variety of communities, sometimes with different challenges of their own. But we should celebrate that diversity and nurture potential, not pit communities against one another.

“Graham Simpson needs to clarify his remarks as a matter of urgency.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Tories said: “We’ve seen some ludicrous press releases from James Dornan over the years, but this one is so utterly stupid it doesn’t even deserve a response.”

In December 2015, when Trump first called for a Muslim travel ban he said parts of London were “so radicalised” police officers were “afraid for their lives”.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson responded to the remark calling Trump a “clay-brained guts, knotty-pated fool, whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch” on Twitter.

David Cameron, who was Prime Minister at the time, called the remarks: “divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong.”

The phrase “no-go area” is politically loaded, and commonly used by the right and far-right, often in connection with areas with a large Muslim population.

Many right-wing news outlets and anti-Muslim activists believe there are parts of cities throughout Europe where the authorities have lost control, where non-Muslims are not allowed entry, or where Sharia law is imposed on residents.

A Fox News expert on terrorism once famously claimed the city of Birmingham in England had become off-limits to non-Muslims.

“You basically have zones where Sharia courts were set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where the police don’t go in, and where it’s basically a separate country almost said Steve Emerson.

This came as a surprise to people living in Birmingham.

Cameron called Emerson “a complete idiot.”