DUP MLA Jim Wells has said that more people have been killed through abortion in the United Kingdom since 1967 than died during the holocaust.

Mr Wells, who had the party whip withdrawn last month over criticism of the DUP leadership, was speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Wednesday.

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Around six million Jews died in Concentration Camps run by the far-right Nazi regime during the second world war.

The show was holding a discussion on comments from DUP MP Sammy Wilson who said following aborted fetuses were "discarded and put in a bin."

Host Stephen Nolan and Mr Wells were joined by journalist Malachi O'Doherty.

"What comes across is a huge cultural division between the DUP's attitude to abortion and moral issues and the ordinary British parliamentarian," Mr O'Doherty said.

"If the DUP does (see abortion as murder) then you are saying that these people are effectively like the Nazi's, that there's something worse than the holocaust happening in England."

"I don't think he's too far wrong," Mr Wells replied.

"9.2m people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967, that is actually more than the number of lives murdered in concentration camps.

"It is a ghastly situation. We are killing human beings. These are sentient human beings that have every right to life and every right to be protected."

Host Stephen Nolan asked Mr Wells if it was fair comparison to draw with the Nazis.

"I think the numbers are a fair comparison because these human beings have been killed," the South Down MLA said.

"I said yes in the sense that the number of human beings who have been killed in the rest of the UK far exceed the ghastly concentration camps of Germany."

"These are human beings, they are people who have been killed in the womb. I don't support the killing of any human being and abortion has got completely out of control in the United Kingdom.

"200,000 human beings are killed each year. I believe the child in the womb is a person, a person who's got rights and a person who is given no choice when the decision is made to terminate their lives."

"98.8% of these people are healthy normal babies."

Later in the programme Mr Wells clarified that he didn't believe women who had abortions were like Nazis but that the number of lives lost was comparable. He called it a "staggering loss of life".

South Down MP Chris Hazzard criticised Mr Wells' comments on Twitter.

"I'm happy to say that Jim Wells’ archaic views do not reflect the vast, vast majority of #SouthDown community," Mr Hazzard said.

"He is increasingly unfit to be a political representative in 2018."

Belfast Telegraph