Theresa May spoke of 'the British Dream', but once tried to introduce immigration checks for children

Theresa May was accused by one of her colleagues of discriminating against immigrant children during her time as Home Secretary over proposed checks on the sons and daughters of undocumented migrants.

Leaked letters from the then Education Secretary Nicky Morgan – who was later sacked by the Prime Minister - reveal that she expressed her “profound concerns about the practical and presentational issues of children’s education.”

The controversial episode re-emerged a day after Ms May used her Tory conference speech to say she wanted to give a voice to those who have been “ignored or silenced for too long”.

Referring to the fact that her grandmother was a domestic servant, she said her dream was of a society where it did not matter “where you are from or who your parents are”.

However, in 2015, critics accused the then Home Secretary of trying to “blame children” for the Government’s failure to bring down immigration during David Cameron’s premiership when the migrant crisis was at a high.

Ms Morgan wrote: “These cover deprioritising illegal migrants in the schools admissions process, and carrying out immigration checks through schools.”

She added: “Introducing these checks could lead to some children not being registered for school because of real or perceived fear of deportation.”

Ms Morgan also warned the end result of such a policy would be to concentrate migrant children in the least popular schools in each catchment area, “jeopardising our increasingly important focus on tackling both segregation and extremism.”

Her department suggested that schools could withdraw the offer of a place for a child if their family was discovered to be in the country illegally.

After an outcry from various campaign groups and MPs on both sides of the house, the proposals were eventually dropped from the immigration bill.

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said at the time: “Denying innocent children, because of the circumstances of their parents, the right to a good education is disgusting. It’s not a British value we have.

“One in eight UK nationals don’t have a passport either so it’s completely impractical. Rather than deal with the problems of her own department, Theresa May was trying to offload the failings of her department and blame children, innocent children, for that.”

During her disastrous speech in Manchester, Ms May said she joined the Conservative Party because she believed that “each generation should live the British dream. And that dream is what I believe in.”

Between coughs, splutters and interruptions from a prankster, Ms May spoke of the contribution made by many who have come to the UK to build a new life.

“The dream that means the son of a bus driver from Pakistan serves in a Conservative Cabinet alongside the son of a single mother from a council estate in south-west London. And in a way, that dream is my story too.”

After failing to push through Ms May’s initial proposals, watered down Government legislation means UK schools have been collecting data on the country of birth and nationality of their pupils – which some campaigners remain opposed opposed to.

In 2012, it was estimated there were around 120,000 undocumented children in the UK, with fears many of them may not be educated because of their parents fears of deportation, leaving them vulnerable to poverty and exploitation.

The campaign group Schools ARC (Against Borders for Children) claims the education office’s agreement to send details of up to 1,500 children a month to the Home Office is creating “a hostile environment” for migrant children.

It has called for a national boycott from schools, and claimed: “This policy is unnecessary, divisive and puts vulnerable children at risk."