UK: After years of rising tensions, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer promised on Monday to mend ties with India. This was according to the Guardian newspaper.
As Delhi's government embraced a more right-wing, nationalist agenda in recent years, the party's relations with India and the British Indian community deteriorated. Particularly, Labour was charged with supporting Pakistan when some party members demanded the independence of Jammu and Kashmir, a contentious region.
Following the passage of an emergency motion in 2019 calling for the entry of foreign observers, the party faced criticism from Indian organisations. Later, Labour declared that it would remain neutral in the conflict. Some British Indians have also charged the party with favouring Bangladeshis and Pakistanis living in squalor in inner cities over Indians in comparable circumstances.
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According to The Guardian, Starmer stated on Monday that if his party wins the upcoming general election, which is scheduled for no later than January 28, 2025, it will work to improve relations with India.
"In the past, Labour gave the impression we could only see the lives of people in communities who needed our support," Starmer said to the audience on the first day of the UK-India Week conference in London.
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"But my Labour Party knows that success, aspiration, and security are what working people in every community need.
"There are many issues in the Labour Party where, over the last two years, we have openly taken the decision to change our party to look out to the world in a different way, and to recognise what an incredible, powerful, and important country India is, and to ensure that we have the right relationship as we go forward," said one Labour Party member.
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With 1.9 million members, British Indians are the largest ethnic minority in the UK and could be a significant source of votes in hotly contested elections.