SCOTTISH labour Leader Anas Sarwar unleashed a devastating broadside at Sir Keir Starmer for lack of “humanity and empathy” over the Gaza crisis, according to a leaked account of a private meeting.

Mr Sarwar expressed rage at Sir Keir at the gathering of MSPs and the Labour Muslim Network held in the days following the Labour leader’s public backing for Israeli war crimes.

“I can tell you first hand how devastated people are right across the Muslim community,” Mr Sarwar said according to an account published by the Daily Record newspaper. 

“And that is not to negate or talk down the devastation felt in the Jewish community.

“Humanity and empathy is, if we are being blunt about it, what has been missing from some of the statements which has caused so much of the hurt, where it feels as if there is an inconsistency, or a dehumanising, or not seeing the value of one life to be equal to another life.”

Labour would have to work every day between now and the general election to repair the damage Sir Keir had done to its standing in the Muslim community, the Scottish leader said.

Acknowledging that Sir Keir had tried belatedly to walk back his support for Israel cutting off essential supplies to besieged Gaza, Mr Sarwar said it “should have been said a lot sooner,” adding that he had given that message directly to Mr Starmer.

Mr Sarwar has joined Labour mayors in London and Manchester, more than 60 Labour MPs, hundreds of councillors and over a dozen frontbenchers in calling for a Gaza ceasefire, a demand Sir Keir has rejected.