Ed Balls, Britain’s former shadow chancellor, has claimed that Donald Trump is “lying” to America regarding the UK’s sharia zones. He used his own wealthy suburb as an example, failing to mention it is comparatively homogeneous.
Two days ago, Mr. Trump, who is leading the race for the Republican nomination for next year’s election, wrote on Twitter:
“The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest.”
In Britain, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army.https://t.co/LQVNz7b2Eb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2015
Since losing his seat of Morley and Outwood near Leeds to a Conservative candidate at this year’s general election, Mr. Balls has taken up a position at Harvard’s Kennedy Business School. He follows his wife, Yvette Cooper, who also worked at Harvard and his old boss and failed Prime Minister Ed Milband.
Appearing on MSNBC, he said Mr. Trump had created “unity” in the House of Commons, as politicians from all sides competed to condemn his “wrong and dangerous” comments regarding Muslim immigration in the strongest possible terms.
He argued that Mr. Trump had, “succeeded in… uniting the political establishment — left and right — in America and in Britain in condemning easy solutions which actual divide and harm…”
“I live in London, in a community where Muslims and Hindus and Christians and white people and black people all live together. And we all get on and we all are determined to fight terrorism”, said Mr. Balls.
Stoke Newington, in the borough of Hackney, London where Mr. Balls lives, has a lower Muslim population than the borough and country generally. The Muslim population sits at around 11 per cent; Hackney is around 14 per cent, and for England it is 12.4 per cent.
In response to a question regarding Trump’s claim that there are areas of the UK “so radicalised the police are afraid for their lives”, Mr. Balls said:
“The idea there is any no-go area for the police in London is a lie and the police work really hard to work with all parts of the community to make sure that we’re as safe as we can be. Across the UK, Muslims are as determined to tackle terrorism as anyone else.”
However, Breitbart London has confirmed with London police sources that the comments were more or less accurate, with one long-serving policeman saying:
“When I was a teenage lad in Burnley there were no go white areas. This IS the case still nationally… including London where you have to have extra vigilance in certain parts when you are working”.
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