A LABOUR think tank director has been forced to apologise after suggesting people-smuggling gangs be shipped to Scotland on a barge.

Josh Simons — who succeeded key Starmer aide Morgan McSweeney as director of Labour Together in 2022 — made the remarks to LBC on Monday evening while discussing controversial Tory plans to fly people seeking sanctuary in Britain to Rwanda.

Citing the view of the parliamentary joint committee on human rights that the Tory plans were “fundamentally incompatible” with Britain’s international obligations, Mr Simons — also a fellow at the Harvard Centre for Ethics – told LBC: “My main concern with Rwanda is not actually the human rights implications of it and the focus of this report.

“My main concern is that it’s a complete waste of money and it won’t work. It won’t stop the boats.”

Referring to the Tory government’s use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to house those seeking asylum, Mr Simon added: “Why don’t you send the smuggler gangs and put them on the barge that has been set aside for the asylum-seekers and then ship the barge up to the north of Scotland for all I care, you know, who cares?”

The remark provoked a furious reaction not only from political opponents, but from the Scottish Labour Party itself.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson sought to distance the party from the comments, saying “every party has elements on the fringes,” a phrase Scottish Labour executive member Coll McCail dismissed.

He told the Star: “Far from a fringe organisation, Labour Together is highly influential with its former director heading up the party’s general election campaign.

“Simon’s comments offer a glaring insight into the politics of those running the Labour Party.”

On Tuesday, Mr Simon took to X (formerly Twitter) to “apologise for any negative insinuation about Scotland.”