Starmer appears on Bangladeshi TV after illegal migrant comments spark backlash

Sir Keir Starmer has appeared on Bangladeshi TV after he was embroiled in a row with the community over his comments on dealing with illegal migrants from that country.

The Labour leader faced a backlash after he used Bangladesh as an example of a safe country which asylum seekers could be returned to if they had no right to remain in the UK.

The row escalated after an edited clip of the interview was posted on social media in which Sir Keir looked as though he was suggesting the repatriation of British Bangladeshis.

During an interview with ATN Bangla to address his comments, Sir Keir said: “I’m very concerned about any upsets I may have caused. That certainly wasn’t my intention. I didn’t mean to offend anyone or upset anyone and I’m genuinely concerned that I’ve done so. Not least because the relationship between Labour and the Bangladeshi community is very, very strong.”

“It’s historically strong and my own relationship with the Bangladeshi community here is very strong, particularly in my constituency, where we work as partners, and I have many, many friends that I work with,” added Sir Keir.

Explaining the remarks made in response to questions from an audience of Sun newspaper readers on Monday, he said: “I was simply indicating that I do think there’s real scope for our two countries to work together if we’re able to form a Labour government.”

“I hope that we can build on our relationship with Bangladesh. The UK and Bangladesh working together for years to come will be of great benefit to the UK and the Bangladeshi community here in the UK. And it was really, for that reason, that it was front of mind rather than any other reason,” added the Labour leader.

On Thursday Sir Keir was forced to explain his comments, which aides said had been taken out of context, after he was criticised by Bangladeshi community leaders.

He then paid tribute to the “massive contribution” by Bangladeshis to the UK economy and culture.

Asked about his remarks on BBC Radio 5 Live , Sir Keir said: “Clumsy would be a good word, I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I actually think there’s huge scope for the UK and Bangladesh to work together.”

‘Singled out Bangladeshis’

Conservative officials questioned why the Labour leader had singled out Bangladeshis when they accounted for eight of the 31,079 migrants who had arrived in the UK illegally via small boats in the year to March 2024.

During the interview with The Sun, Sir Keir had said the number of people being returned to where they come from had fallen by 44 per cent under the Conservative government.

He pledged to “put the staff back in the returns unit” in “the first few days” of a Labour government.

“I’ll make sure that we’ve got planes going off – not to Rwanda, that’s an expensive gimmick – they will go back to the countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen,” he added.

Pressed on which countries he was referring to by Harry Cole, The Sun’s political editor, Sir Keir responded: “At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed, because they’re not being processed.”

In May, the Government signed an agreement with Bangladesh “to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to be in the country”.

In 2023, according to Home Office statistics, 12 failed asylum seekers were deported to Bangladesh, while 66 went back voluntarily.