Parts of Birmingham can’t be a ‘no-go area’ for Jewish people, Cabinet minister Ed Miliband said today – as Labour ministers scramble to lift a ban on Israeli football fans.
The Energy Secretary said Britain ‘cannot have a situation where any area is a no-go area for people of a particular religion or from a particular country’.
It comes as the Government continues to pressure police to reverse a decision to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their match against Aston Villa on 6 November.
Ministers are exploring what extra support West Midlands Police needs to allow fans from both sides into the Europa League game, with a revised decision expected soon.
Mr Miliband was quizzed this morning about a petition, which has been supported by local independent MP Ayoub Khan and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The petition called for the match to be cancelled entirely, relocated to a ‘neutral third country’, or to be held behind closed doors.
It stated the game is ‘not a normal football match’ due to the ‘ongoing genocide in Gaza’, while also expressing fears about a ‘track record of violence’ by Maccabi fans.
‘Their arrival in Aston – a diverse and predominantly Muslim community – poses a real risk of tensions within the community and disorder,’ it added.
Parts of Birmingham can’t be a ‘no-go area’ for Jewish people, Cabinet minister Ed Miliband said today – as Labour ministers scramble to lift a ban on Israeli football fans
It comes as the Government continues to pressure police to reverse a decision to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their match against Aston Villa on 6 November
Asked on Sky News this morning about the petition and if Aston was now a ‘no-go area’ for Jews, Mr Miliband said: ‘No. And it can’t be. I’m very, very clear about that.
‘I believe we as a country pride ourselves on our diversity, but also our tolerance and our hatred of prejudice, frankly.
‘So we cannot have a situation where any area is a no-go area for people of a particular religion or from a particular country.
‘We’ve got to stamp out all forms of prejudice, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia wherever we find it.’
Mr Miliband added he ‘profoundly disagrees’ with the approach of Mr Khan, the Birmingham Perry Barr MP.
‘I profoundly disagree with that approach, with what is being said in that petition,’ he said. ‘Because that cannot be the basis on which our country operates.
‘I actually think for the vast majority of people and the vast majority of places in our country, it isn’t the way we operate.
‘Let’s not take one petition and say it paints a picture of our country – I don’t think it is a fair picture of our country.’
Mr Miliband continued: ‘The vast majority of Muslim people in this country would disassociate themselves from those remarks.
‘Integration is not something you can ever take for granted and it’s something you always have to keep working on.
‘But I do think there’s something important here, which is not to talk down our country or… to paint a picture of it which is so far from the truth.’
The row over the Europa League match also comes shortly after Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick was criticised for his comments about another part of Birmingham.
Mr Jenrick had said he ‘didn’t see another white face’ during a 90-minute visit to Handsworth earlier this year, before adding ‘that’s not the kind of country I want to live in’.
He went on to say it was ‘not about the colour of your skin or your faith’, but about people ‘living alongside each other’.
Labour criticised Mr Jenrick for judging ‘his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around’, but Tory leader Kemi Badenoch defended his comments.
Tory shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho on Sunday said the decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match in Birmingham next month is a ‘disgrace’.
‘I think to say that we could not possibly police Israeli Jewish fans to watch a football match safely is reinforcing that message that Jews are not welcome here,’ she said.
Ms Coutinho noted how police regularly cover other high-risk events.
‘What you’ve seen is policing in this country has been able to protect people at the Notting Hill Carnival, where people are routinely injured, it’s protected people through the Palestinian marches,’ she added.
