UK's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has faced significant backlash after his recent comment where he singled out Bangladesh as a country from where people coming in should be sent back. He made the comment during an interview with The Sun when he was asked about small boat crossings in the English Channel and how a Labour government would address the issue. When pressed by Harry Cole, The Sun's political editor, as to which countries the migrants could be returned to, Starmer responded, "At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed, because they're not being processed." This statement was alarming for several reasons—including because it was contextually incorrect.

In regards to small boat crossings across the English Channel, Bangladesh's contribution is far from significant. According to the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, Bangladesh did not even rank in the top 10. Furthermore, the UK government's Home Office data shows that only 13 Bangladeshis applied for asylum after crossing the Channel using small boats between 2018 and 2024, compared to a total of 126,609 crossings. This means that Bangladesh accounted for a negligible number of crossings—eight out of 31,079 so far this year. Labour has already marginalised voters, especially those of Bangladeshi heritage, due to its stance on Israel's war in Gaza. And his comments have even led to backlash from within his own party.

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Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Apsana Begum, accused Starmer of "dog whistle racism against Bangladeshis." Moreover, Councillor Sabina Akhtar resigned over Starmer's comments, adding that she felt Labour had taken the Bangladeshi community's vote "for granted to please a small group of people." This reflected the wider effects of his comments, as it seemed to downplay the Bangladeshi community's contribution to the UK's culture and economy. Over half a million British-Bangladeshis live in the UK and operate 10,000 restaurants, forming a vital part of the £4.5 billion British curry sector. Additionally, British-Bangladeshis work in the NHS and in the armed forces—contributions the community felt were being undervalued, especially given their history of being victims of racist attacks.

However, this is not to say that Bangladesh is in no way contributing to the UK's immigration and asylum woes. Last year, a large number of Bangladeshis were accused of abusing the visa system. Nearly 11,000 Bangladeshi nationals entered the UK on visas and then applied for asylum within 12 months, using student, worker, and visitor visas. This led to Bangladesh and the UK signing an agreement last month to expedite the removal of Bangladeshi migrants who have no right to stay in the country. Nevertheless, even in terms of asylum seekers, both India and Pakistan were ahead of Bangladesh, with Afghanistan and Iran at the top. This makes Starmer's singling out Bangladesh inappropriate, even if the question extended beyond small boat Channel crossings.

Labour has often been accused of not having any real plans to solve the issue of small boat crossings, and Starmer's comment does not help counter such accusations. This criticism extends beyond immigration, as Starmer has lacked cohesive plans on foreign policy, climate, or the economy. He has largely relied on platitudes, with Labour expected to win due to anti-Tory sentiments rather than pro-Labour ones. With immigration expected to be a major issue this election, every party has more or less agreed on the need to control the flow of immigrants, although each party has proposed different approaches to solving the crisis.

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The Conservatives have stood firmly behind their Rwanda plan, with the right-wing party Reform UK pledging a complete freeze on immigration, in addition to deportation of people crossing the Channel in small boats. Labour plans to dismantle the Rwanda scheme and establish a "Border Security Command," relying on bilateral agreements to deport illegal immigrants. This reflects a wider consensus amongst voters that immigration numbers must come down, with 52 percent of the public saying it must be reduced. This means that Starmer's Labour will have to depart from the empathetic approach and defence of migration characteristic of the party during the Corbyn-era. However, political expediency should never justify scapegoating a historically marginalised community that is not only an integral part of your voter base but also of the country as a whole.

To Starmer's credit, he has apologised for his "clumsy" comments and acknowledged the "massive contribution" made by Bangladeshis to the UK. He further emphasised that mutual cooperation between the UK and the Bangladeshi community could lead to "great benefit" for both—which was the main reason for his remark.

Mahadev Ghosh is an independent researcher based in the UK.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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