MORE must be done to ensure children see both their parents following a separation, claims a district MP.

Philip Davies, whose Shipley constituency includes Cullingworth and Denholme, said too often separated parents – usually fathers – were being alienated from their children without good reason.

He was speaking in Parliament during a debate on International Men’s Day.

“Men are clearly disadvantaged when it comes to family breakdowns and how children are allocated afterwards,” said Mr Davies.

“Women are more likely to get custody of the children and, as has been noted on many occasions, men really do draw the short straw in these instances.”

He told MPs that over a million children in the UK have no contact with one of their parents after a separation, and that the subject needed more debate in Parliament.

“Separation can happen for all kinds of reasons and in some cases it is clearly right that parents are kept away from their children – for example when there are genuine safety concerns,” Mr Davies added.

“But stopping access for no reason is detrimental to the children.”

He recently visited a volunteer-run child contact centre, at Bingley Baptist Church.

Mr Davies paid tribute to the work of the initiative, part of the National Association of Child Contact Centres.

He said such centres were “part of the solution”.