Growing hostility to foreigners drives Hong Kong-born Anna Lo out of Northern Ireland politics

A Hong Kong-born woman who became Britain's first ethnic Chinese parliamentarian says her decision to quit politics - and possibly her adopted home - reflects a growing hostility to foreigners and the rise of far-right politics across Europe.

Northern Ireland politician Anna Lo Man-wah announced last week that she would not seek re-election for the Belfast South seat she has held for the moderate Alliance Party for eight years.

In an interview with the Sunday Morning Post, she said her decision stemmed from the inability of people in her adopted homeland to shake off sectarian hatred and a growing sense of insularity and anti-foreigner sentiment across Europe, reflected in recent European election results.

Lo, 63, went to Shau Kei Wan East Government Secondary School and left the city to start a new life in Northern Ireland in 1974 - at the height of what became known as "The Troubles".

She said of certain sections of the community she represents: "They're scaremongering the British people, telling them that immigrants are taking people's jobs, that they take benefits and are not contributing."

Lo said a rise in racism, with two racially motivated incidents reported in Northern Ireland each day, had left her feeling vulnerable, despite having lived through some of the province's worst sectarian violence.