“Allegations of racial profiling must be taken extremely seriously,” says Starmer

Keir Starmer has said that “all allegations of racial profiling must be taken extremely seriously” after Dawn Butler reported that she was a victim of racial profiling when stopped by the police over the weekend.

Commenting this afternoon, the Labour leader said that he “reached out yesterday to Dawn Butler to discuss the incident she reported and to offer our support”. The Brent Central MP tweeted on Sunday afternoon that she had been stopped.

Starmer declared that “it is imperative that the Black community have trust and confidence in our police” and condemned the abuse that the Labour backbencher has been subjected to on Twitter since speaking out about the incident.

LabourList understands that the leader of the opposition’s office has been liaising with Butler since the incident on Sunday and that Starmer’s team have been in touch with City Hall.

He had received criticism for not responding quickly enough. Owen Jones tweeted: “It is very unfortunate that a Conservative Prime Minister with a history of overt racism has spoken out about Dawn Butler before the Labour leader.”

Shortly before Starmer issued his statement, Labour national executive committee candidate Jermain Jackman said: “I don’t know about everyone else on the [timeline] but Keir has already shown me his true colours & time after time his masks slips.

“So whatever statement the leader of the opposition’s office intend to put out, I want to be the first to say… Save it! We already know how you feel about Black people and Black members.”

Starmer faced a backlash earlier in the summer when he described the Black Lives Matter movement as “a moment” during an interview with BBC News. He later clarified that he had meant it was a “defining moment” in race relations.

Labour frontbencher Nick Thomas-Symonds has also posted on Twitter this afternoon to say that “it is vital concerns about stop and search are listened to, whoever they are raised by”.

The Shadow Home Secretary also said that he has contacted Butler and added: “It is right that a senior officer has been in touch to discuss the mistakes made. The vile abuse Dawn has recieved on social media is totally unacceptable.”

Butler has said that it was “obviously racial profiling”. In footage of the police stop recorded by the Labour MP, officers said that they were searching the area because of “gang and knife crime”.

In an interview with Sky News, she said: “It is tiring and exhausting and mentally draining if you’re black and getting treated like that. Yes there are issues, but deal with it in an equitable way, in an unbiased way, not in a racist way.

“If you’re profiling cars because they’re not from the area that’s a ridiculous way to police. If you’re stopping cars because of the make that’s a ridiculous way to police. And if you’re stopping cars because of the colour of the people inside them, that’s racist.”

Butler added in an interview today: “This cannot continue. In light of Black Lives Matters what we’re trying to do is dismantle the structural racism that takes place and Macpherson has said that the Met Police is institutionally racist.

“Cressida Dick doesn’t like that term – that is not something that she should be saying. What she should be saying is: I lead an organisation that is still institutionally racist after 20 years – I need to stop that.”

A number of other parliamentary colleagues of the Labour MP have taken to social media since the police stop to express solidarity and concern for her wellbeing.