Robert Jenrick was challenged live on TV after he complained that the number of white British people in Dagenham had gone down.
On Monday, prime minister Keir Starmer unveiled controversial plans to reduce immigration into the UK, so that the country does not become an “island of strangers.”
Appearing on Sky News, Jenrick was asked by presenter Wilfred Frost if he supported the prime minister’s words.
In response the Tory MP said “we already are” an “island of strangers,” before claiming the UK was a “very divided and segregated society” in some areas.
He continued: “If you look at the centre of Bradford, for example, 50% of people were not born in the UK. If you look at the centre of Luton, almost 50% of people only arrived in the UK in the last 10 years. If you look at parts of Dagenham, the white British population has reduced by 50% in the last 25 years.”
When asked whether he believed this was a “problem”, Jenrick said the “pace of change is immense and people are sick of that.”
Jenrick was further pressed on why the colour of people’s skin mattered in this context, given that he had specifically mentioned the declining levels of White British people living in Dagenham.
After the shadow secretary of state said he was making a point about “whether or not someone has just arrived in our country,” Frost pointed out he was now making a different point that had nothing to do with skin colour.
You can watch the full exchange below.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2001, roughly 85% of the population of Barking and Dagenham identified as white. This fell to 58.3% in 2011 and 44.9% in 2021.
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