Sir Keir Starmer

SIR Keir Starmer chose to name Bangladesh as an example of where people needed to be flown back to ­­– as he tried to show a tough face on illegal immigration in an election debate.

The Labour leader did not mean repatriating those who are already living in the UK but said on Monday that his party wanted to send people who had arrived illegally back to the “country where people come from” and said the Conservative government had failed to “process” them.

The use of Bangladesh as his chosen example was met with anger, including from members of his own party surprised by the animation with which he talked of getting planes off the ground and “return units” into action, and for choosing a country which has such heavy links with his own constituency.

It is estimated that more than five percent of the borough’s residents have Bengali heritage.

Watch Mr Starmer’s unedited comments at The Sun’s Election Showdown event

Labour members did not want to be seen as attacking their own leader publicly with a week to go before the general election but the issue has been raised internally and the upset spelt out to his campaign organisers. The reaction has been similar in east London.

One senior party source close to the issue said: “Keir’s utter disregard for the community that has supported him since the beginning of his political journey is obvious. He seems to have forgotten that the Bangladeshi community supported his first election when he was a nobody.”

Labour councillor Nash Ali, the former leader of the council and a two time mayor of Camden, tweeted: “I was shocked by what he and a Shadow Cabinet member have said recently. I would like to make it clear that I do not agree with their comments in singling out a community.”

Mr Starmer, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras for the last nine years and now widely expected to become prime minister at next week’s general election, was taking questions from readers of The Sun at its ‘election showdown’ event screened by the newspaper online.

After committing to cracking down on people smuggling gangs, a member of the audience asked him to explain what would happen to thousands of people already here who had not been granted the right to stay. There have been arguments over how clips have been cut from The Sun’s broadcast, so we are publishing a transcript of what he said below.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll put the staff back in the returns unit,” he said in his reply. “I’ll make sure we’ve got planes going off. Not to Rwanda, because that’s an expensive gimmick. “They will go back to the countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen. At the moment, people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they are not being processed.”

SEE ALSO FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES IN HOLBORN & ST PANCRAS

Labour has been desperate not to be seen as soft on the small boat crossings, and recently recruited the Tory MP Natalie Elphicke in Dover ­– the defection came as a surprise because her previous comments had been seen as right wing and hard line. It has been suggested that people from Bangladesh are more likely to come on student visas than Channel crossings and it was clear this week that the singling out of Bangladesh had cut through.

Rushanara Ali, the sitting Labour MP in Bethnal Green and Stepney, said last night that she had “relayed the concerns of the community” to the leader.

Mehreen Malik, the Conservative candidate in Holborn and St Pancras, said: “This is problematic language, to single out an entire population, even as an example. British Bengalis, as all of the minority ethnic groups that help make London the wonderful city it is, should be treated with value and respect. Camden has a large, vibrant, thriving and hard working Bengali population. Sir Keir’s words are not only insulting and unhelpful but also divisive.”

Lib Dem candidate Charlie Clinton said: “Keir Starmer’s comments singling out the Bangladeshi community are inappropriate and insensitive. No group should be singled out in this way – but especially not a community who play a significant role in the constituency he represents. It’s just more evidence that he is increasingly detached from his own voters. Holborn and  St Pancras deserves an MP who will respect it’s residents – not scapegoat them.”

Lorna Jane Russell, the Green Party candidate in Hampstead and Highgate, said: “I am absolutely appalled; there is no place for dogwhistle politics in Camden. The Bangladeshi community make such an important contribution to the culture in our borough, and indeed across the UK – as Sir Keir well knows. I’ve spoken to many Bangladeshi residents that feel let down by his comments but I want to reassure them that the Green Party stands firmly on their side.

“More broadly, I am proud we take a much more compassionate and humane approach to immigration than our future Prime Minister does.”

Independent candidate Andrew Feinstein said: “How can this man claim to be Labour? How can he represent a diverse, inclusive, progressive constituency like Holborn and St. Pancras?”

The Labour Party said that a clip of Mr Starmer’s comments had been edited and amounted to “misinformation”, although the full exchange can be seen on The Sun’s YouTube channel ­– and nobody is denying that he only mentioned Bangladesh.

A Labour spokesperson said: ”Keir has proudly supported the Bangladeshi community across the UK, who make an enormous contribution to our country. “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.”

What the leader said

I do not accept that it’s impossible to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade and that’s why in the first few days of government, if we are priviliged to come in to serve, we will set up a border security command – a new command – with counterterrorism powers to work on that. I’ve done it before, I know how it’s done, I think it can be done again. That way we can stop people coming here in the first place.

On the question of returns, the number of people being returned to the country they come from has dropped off by 44 per cent under this government. So in the first few days in government, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll put the staff back in the returns unit. I’ll make sure we’ve got planes going off.

Not to Rwanda, because that’s an expensive gimmick. They will go back to the countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen. At the moment, people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they are not being processed.

The only way to stop the boats is to smash the gangs, that’s fundamentally important. At the moment, people know that if they get here, they are basically here for life because they are not being processed.

Tens of thousands of people are here not processed. They are here for life. That’s not a deterrant. If it was a deterrant the numbers wouldn’t be going up. They are going up.

Under the last Labour government, we were returning people to the country of origin. Of course, it’s difficult. Of course you have to establish where people came from, but you can return people to their country of origin in very many cases. But the most important thing, in my view, is stopping people coming in the first place.