Holborn and St Pancras Sir Keir Starmer [Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street]

NEW prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was questioned this week over what he was doing to talk to Britain’s Muslim community but his answer was described as a missed opportunity.

Labour saw its vote share fall in areas with a higher numbers of Muslim voters.

It was defeated in one of Leicester’s constituencies and almost lost new health secretary Wes Streeting, who scraped back into his “safe seat” in Ilford North by little more than 500 votes.

In his own Holborn and St Pancras constituency, Mr Starmer lost 15 per cent of the vote share with suggestions that this had partly been due to Gaza and his singling out of Bangladesh in relation to illegal immigration during a campaign debate hosted by The Sun.

He was asked about Labour’s lost votes on Tuesday by ITV News’s Shehab Khan.

In response, Mr Starmer did not reference Britain’s Muslim community and said he was glad that people who had not voted Labour before had done so this time.

“We now hold seats in parts of the country that have never had a Labour MP so this is an incredibly strong mandate,” he said. “Of course, wherever we weren’t able to secure votes I’m concerned about that, but this is a clear mandate for change, renewal and a different way of doing politics.”

Mr Khan then asked the question again, and received a similar answer in response.

Labour MP Apsana Begum said it was a “an opportunity ignored” to assure British Muslims that he was listening to their concerns.