Keir Starmer hits again at ‘misinformation’ amid Bangladeshi migrant row
Labour has labelled a viral clip of Keir Starmer talking about the deportation of migrants to Bangladesh as “misinformation”.
It came as the Labour leader faced a backlash over remarks he made when tackled on plans to combat small boats crossing the Channel during an election debate this week. The party has promised to scrap the Tories’ costly Rwanda deportation plan and instead vowed to crackdown on the “vile” smuggling gangs” and increase returns.
During the exchange with The Sun, he singled out the example of Bangladesh when asked where migrants could be returned to under Labour’s plans. But the party described an edited video clip of the exchange shared online – which urges people to vote for independent candidates next week – as “misinformation”.
A Labour spokesman said: “Keir has proudly supported the Bangladeshi community across the UK, who make an enormous contribution to our country. This clip has been edited to make it look as though Keir Starmer is suggesting repatriation of British Bangladeshis. It is misinformation.
“In fact, Keir is referring to Labour’s long established policy of returning those who don’t have the legal right to be in the UK to safe countries. Bangladesh was only used as an example, as there is already a bilateral agreement between the two countries.”
The response came after the clip triggered a backlash. Rushanara Ali – the country’s first British-Bangladeshi MP and Shadow Minister – said: “There has been considerable concern and upset following the release of a clip of the Labour Party leader. I have been in close contact with his team to relay the concerns in our community”.
A member of Labour’s governing body – the National Executive (NEC) – Mish Rahman also described Mr Starmer’s comments as “vicious”. He told ITV News: “Our communities will not tolerate this attitude that the potential new prime minister has shown that when it comes to dealing with ethnic minority communities. Many in these communities are as a result being pushed towards Independents and Greens.”
Labour candidate Apsana Begum posted a clip on Twitter /X saying: “Let me be very clear: I will never ever stand by and let migrant communities be scapegoated. It’s totally unacceptable for politicians, for any party, to use dog whistle racism against Bangladeshis or any other migrant community.”
During the exchange on Monday, the Labour leader said: : “This is really serious. The numbers this year of people crossing in small boats are record numbers under this Government.
“Nobody but nobody should be making that journey across the Channel – nobody.” He added: “On the question of returns – the number of people being returned to where they came from has dropped off by 44% under this government”.
Quizzed on where they would be returned to, the Labour leader replied: “They will go back to countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen.” Asked where, he went on: “At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they are not being processed.”
