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The Prime Minister has criticized the shadow justice secretary's statements about the lack of white faces in parts of Handsworth, stating the politician was difficult to regard credibly.

Leadership Campaign Accusations

Starmer suggested that his observations were part of a covert Tory bid for leadership and said he did not believe they accurately reflected the neighborhood of Handsworth.

It’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously; he’s clearly still running his leadership campaign.

Jenrick has been criticized for igniting a fire of toxic nationalism after he reiterated his complaint despite criticism from figures including the ex-Tory mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Local Rejection and Support

Starmer, who did not directly engage the statements, said he had agreed with Street's objections of Jenrick.

• The former mayor had told BBC Newsnight the comments were incorrect and described the area as a highly cohesive community.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, Starmer said. Andy Street obviously was mayor for a long time and knows the area very very well.

Kemi Badenoch, defended Jenrick, saying he had made a factual statement and that there was no issue with noting realities.

But she also told the program: I don’t think this is where the debate should be, about how many faces people see on the street and what they look like.

Party Divisions

The shadow chancellor became the first senior Tory to disassociate from his colleague over the statements, telling a Politico fringe event that they were phrases I would have avoided.

Jenrick repeatedly informed journalists at the event that he supported the remarks and did not retract them as it would be wrong to shut down an important debate that we have to have as a country about integration.

When a Sky News journalist put it to him that his comments could encourage far-right groups, he said it was an completely unacceptable and absurd inquiry.

Original Statements

In his original remarks, the MP said the area was among the least cohesive locations I have visited. Specifically, in the 90 minutes he was filming news there he observed no other white individuals.

That’s not the kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated. It’s not about the colour of your skin or your faith – of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives. That’s not the right way we want to live as a country.