Labour MP plays the race card

1.00.00pm GMT Tue 1st Feb 2005

A Labour has been accused of playing the race card, Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath) has called for an end to all economic migration. his Labour colleagues and the Home Officer have hit back with him being branded a racist.

Former Labour Minister Keith Vaz, one of the few Asian MPs in the Commons, accused him of going beyond "what it is acceptable to say". Khalid Mahmood, Birmingham's only Asian MP, said he was "shocked" by the comments.

This does not surprise with coming from the Labour Party, anyone who saw their literature from the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election last autumn would know the Labour party has a soft underbelly of racism that they are happy to pander to on occasion.