Residents at city suburb hit back as Robert Jenrick compares area to a 'slum'

Residents in a city suburb have hit out at Robert Jenrick after he branded the area "a slum".

Families in Handsworth, Birmingham, reacted with fury to the remarks made by the Shadow Justice Secretary at a Conservative Association dinner and, this week, on a podcast. The 43-year-old politician had said he "didn't see any white faces" in the district, which is a multicultural area in the northwest of the city.

Rishi Lothiyi, a business consultant born and raised in Handsworth, said Mr Jenrick must've been 'drunk' to suggest the area had an integration problem. The father of two said he never experienced any racism growing up in the district, unless he "went into the city centre".

Ranjit Singh, the landlord of the pub The Cross Guns, said he embraces how his customers came from all races and backgrounds. He added: "I see white people in here all the time. We have lots of Irish and English customers. Everybody gets along around here."

And John Silwood, a 35-year-old roofer, said: "Diversity is what makes Handsworth." One mother, who gave her name only as Lilija, said the neighbourhood is multicultural but this "isn't a problem".

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According to Birmingham City Council, only 1,032 of Handsworth's 11,814 residents are white, equivalent to 8.7 per cent. The main ethnic groups are Indian (2,736 residents) and Pakistani (2,962 residents).

One man Vinod Parekh, who moved to the area from Fiji 35 years ago, told the Daily Mail: "We have people coming into our business from outside of Birmingham, they come from all over the country. We have a lot of people making a business here. What difference does it make what colour of skin they have?"

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: "When I heard what he (Mr Jenrick) had said, my first thought was 'haven't we heard this crap before?' You don't hear people criticising the Cotswolds, which is only an hour's drive from here, being wall-to-wall white faces, but maybe that's because it's full of rich people."

Such was the outcry in the neighbourhood following Mr Jenrick's comments was strong yesterday that local politicians spoke out to voice their concern. Community leader Bishop Dr Desmond Jaddoo demanded that Mr Jenrick apologise for his "divisive" comments.

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: "Robert Jenrick's comments are disgraceful. It shows a complete lack of respect for the people of our region. Handsworth is a community where people of different backgrounds all live and work side by side."

Mr Jenrick, who was Minister of State for Immigration under Rishi Sunak, made the remarks after he had filmed a video for GB News about litter in Handsworth in the first few days of the city's all-out bin strike. However, he doubled down on them - saying Birmingham "did look like a slum" - in a podcast for the Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Speaking at the dinner earlier this year, the father of three said: "I went to Handsworth in Birmingham the other day to do a video on litter and it was absolutely appalling.

"It's as close as I've come to a slum in this country. But the other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places I've ever been to."