Labour Party changes tack, to soft-pedal Kashmir in UK

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, May 1

The Indian Foreign Office can breathe easy with the new leadership of the British Labour Party deciding not to raise issues that are divisive for the South Asian community.

New Labour Party leader Keir Starmer met with Labour Friends of India and said any constitutional issues in India were a matter for the Indian Parliament.

Kashmir, he added, was a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully and “we must not allow issues of the sub-continent to divide communities here”. The Labour Party’s relations with the Indian-origin community had become strained after it passed an emergency resolution under then leader Jeremy Corbyn in November last year, criticising India’s actions on Kashmir.

Ian Lavery, chair of the Labour Party, subsequently issued a letter clarifying the party’s position.