Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has joined more than 100 MPs in condemning a Sun column they say used “Nazi-like language” to call for a solution to “The Muslim Problem”.
A group of 107 cross-party politicians signed an open letter demanding action from the newspaper over a column by Trevor Kavanagh they said left them “truly outraged by the hate and bigotry” it contained.
In an article about immigration following the Newcastle sex abuse scandal - during which a group of Asian men were convicted of abusing young girls - Kavanagh said Islam was the “one unspoken fear, gagged by political correctness, which links Britain with the rest of Europe”.
“One day soon, if Philip Hammond and Liam Fox are right, we will be back in charge of immigration,” he continued. “What will we do about The Muslim Problem then?”
Led by Labour’s Naz Shah, shocked MPs have accused Kavanagh of comparing Muslims to “The Jewish Problem” - the Nazi solution to which was the Holocaust, which left millions of people dead.
While not a signatory of the letter, Corbyn has lambasted the column for inciting Islamophobia, calling it “dangerous”.
“It is shocking that in the 21st century a columnist is using such Nazi-like terminology about a minority community,” the letter to The Sun editor Tony Gallagher reads.
“Muslims currently face threats from far right and neo-Nazi groups in the UK and your publication of this article can therefore only be seen as an attempt to further stoke up hatred and hostility against Muslims.”
Labour’s education secretary Angela Rayner, shadow home secretary Diane Abbot, Caroline Lucas, Anna Soubry and Chukka Ummuna are among the MPs who have put their name to the open letter.
The group calls for The Sun to retract the article and to “strongly consider whether Mr Kavanagh’s brand of bigotry fits with your vision for the paper”.
In a separate statement, Corbyn slammed The Sun for publishing stories that “incite Islamophobia and stigmatise entire communities”, calling it “wrong” and “dangerous”.
Arguing against branding certain ethnic groups as sex abusers, the Labour leader said such “bigotry and prejudice” would only damage the interests of sex abuse victims.
He continued: “With hate crimes against Muslims on the rise in Britain and Neo-Nazis inciting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, we must stand in solidarity and unity with all our communities and not let hate divide us.”
Press watchdog IPSO said it had received 227 complaints about Kavanagh’s column since it was published over the weekend.
The Sun has yet to respond to HuffPost UK’s requests for comment about the issue.