LABOUR LEADERSHIP POLL Front-runner Starmer visits gurdwara in UK

Starmer, who was shadow Brexit secretary in the shadow cabinet of outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is among three candidates in the fray; the others are Lisa Ray and Rebecca Long-Bailey. The election result will be declared on April 4.

Keir Starmer, who is widely considered to be the front-runner in the ongoing election for the next leader of the opposition Labour party in UK, on Sunday visited the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick, near Birmingham, to seek support of the Sikh community.

Starmer, who was shadow Brexit secretary in the shadow cabinet of outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is among three candidates in the fray; the others are Lisa Ray and Rebecca Long-Bailey. The election result will be declared on April 4.

Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham Edgbaston), who is backing Starmer in the election campaign, said he listened to the concerns of the Sikh community in the UK, promised to work on the issues that matter to the community, and served langar.

The Labour party has promised to tender an apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre if it comes to power in the next general elections, besides holding an independent inquiry into the role played by the then Margaret Thatcher government in issues related to the 1984 Operation Bluestar.

The election for the next Labour leader was triggered after the party lost the December 2019 general elections, when Jeremy Corbyn resigned.