LORD Stoddart of Swindon has hit out at the action being taken against the parents of Aysha King, who took him abroad in a bid to secure treatment in Spain which was unavailable on the NHS.

Brett and Naghemeh King are being held in police custody after they refused to consent to their extradition to the UK at court appearance in Spain, where they took their five-year-old son, who has a brain tumour.

It is believed the family were seeking proton beam therapy for the youngster, which is not provided by the NHS. And independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart says he is “concerned” about rules allowing the arrest of the parents, who took the youngster from hospital in Southampton on Thursday, prompting an international search.

Ashya is now in hospital in Malaga.

Lord Stoddart said: “I am deeply concerned that a European Arrest Warrant has been issued again British citizens, leading to their being separated from their children and their mortally sick child, Aysha and incarcerated in a Spanish jail.

“By all accounts, these poor parents were simply trying to get the best possible treatment for their son, which wasn’t available in this country.

“I have always opposed the EU’s European Arrest Warrant but we were told they were for chasing after organised crime, people traffickers and terrorists etc, not the desperately worried parents of a very sick boy.”