Keir Starmer accused of 'dog whistle racism' by Labour members after he said migrants could be sent back to Bangladesh

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of 'dog whistle racism' by members of his own party in a row over Bangladeshi migrants.

The Labour leader was criticised by would-be MPs after using Bangladesh as an example of where migrants could be returned to under the party's immigration plans.

Last night he insisted he 'wasn't intending to cause any concern or offence' – and said both countries should be proud of a returns agreement signed last month.

Official migration figures show just 42 Bangladeshis entered the UK illegally in the year leading up to March 2024 – making up just 0.1 per cent of total illegal arrivals.

His comments appeared to outrage some Labour politicians, who lined up to show solidarity with the Bangladeshi community yesterday.

Without naming her party leader, Labour candidate Apsana Begum said: 'As the daughter of Bangladeshi migrants, I am so proud of the East End's diversity and that our communities include migrants from all around the world.

'I will never 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 community.'

Earlier this week, Sir Keir was asked which countries he was referring to after vowing his government would 'make sure that we've got planes going off... they will go back to the countries where people come from.'

He told The Sun's Never Mind The Ballots politics show: 'At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed, because they're not being processed.'

In response, shadow minister Rushanara Ali, the first British Bangladeshi MP elected, acknowledged the 'considerable concern and upset' at the comments and suggested she had 'relayed the concerns' to the leadership.

After the initial backlash, the Labour leader told reporters yesterday how much he valued 'the relationship and the contribution that we have with the Bangladeshi community in Britain.

'My first trip as a Labour MP was to Bangladesh where I saw for myself the strength of the county, [the] hospitality and warmth of the country.

'The reference in the debate the other day was an example of a country that is considered safe as far as asylum concerns and one of the countries that actually has a returns agreement with us. That is actually a good thing. We and Bangladesh should be proud … we have this returns agreement.'

Labour officials suggested the leader chose to single out Bangladesh because it was the most recent country with which Britain has signed a removals deal.

But Bangladesh was also singled out by shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth earlier this week when he told BBC Newsnight: 'We're going to get on with processing people's claims and those people that shouldn't be here, when they come from countries like Bangladesh or wherever, we're going to send them back.'

Ex-MP Beth Winter said: 'It is outrageous for anyone to use dog whistle racism against any migrant community.' Kate Osamor, another former MP, added: 'Any attempt to scapegoat this community… is completely wrong.' 

Mish Rahman, who sits on Labour's National Executive Committee, told Times Radio: 'He's been bang out of line. And unfortunately, this seems to be a regular occurrence when Keir Starmer makes these comments to camera where he makes these awful, awful errors of judgment.'

One insider compared his comments from Monday to his slip-up last year when he appeared to tell LBC that Israel had the right to cut off power and water in Gaza. The episode caused outrage with British Muslim voters, many of whom have since abandoned the party.

The source added: 'Keir keeps doing and saying things which only serve to other and scapegoat minorities. At what point do you just concede that this is what he really thinks?'

An edited clip of Sir Keir's comments is already doing the rounds on Bangladeshi community WhatsApp groups. There are more than 650,000 UK Bangladeshis, almost half of whom live in London. 

A Labour spokesman said the clip 'has been edited to make it look as though Keir Starmer is suggesting repatriation of British Bangladeshis. It is misinformation'.