'Sneering' Labour branch forced to apologise after branding migrant protesters 'Neanderthals'

A Labour Party branch has been forced to apologise after appearing to brand migrant hotel protests as Neanderthals.

The Kingswinford and South Staffordshire Labour Party posted a picture to social media showing a number of human skulls with captions written underneath, such as "man", "woman", "gay", "straight", "poor" and "ugly".

The last skull in the image showed what appeared to be a Neanderthal skull with the caption "paints roundabouts, shouts at hotels".

The post has since been removed from the group's Facebook page.

Former Conservative MP Marco Longhi, who defected to Reform earlier this year, said Labour should "spend less time insulting voters" and instead spend "more time listening to why so many are turning away from them".

According to BirminghamLive, the ex-Dudley North MP said: "This kind of post says everything about today's Labour Party: sneering, divisive and contemptuous towards ordinary people who dare to protest or think differently."

The Labour branch confirmed it had removed the post and apologised for "any offence caused".

Chairman Anil Singh said it had been posted "without our authority", labelling it "outrageous".

Protests have been held outside migrant hotels across the country in recent months, including in a number of towns in the West Midlands such as Cannock, Nuneaton and Tamworth.

The Government has pledged to end the use of hotels to house migrants by 2029.

The expected costs of Home Office accommodation contracts for 2019-2029 have tripled from £4.5billion to £15.3billion following what the Commons Home Affairs Committee called a "dramatic increase in small boat arrivals".

Ministers have now turned their attention to military barracks as an alternative to hotels.

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The Home Office confirmed on Monday that two barracks in Scotland and southern England would be used to house about 900 men temporarily.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wants to see asylum hotels closed "as quickly as possible" and is "bearing down on this every day of the week".

The plans will see men housed at Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said costs "will vary site by site".

"But our priorities are security and fairness," he added.

The spokesman continued: "Military sites can provide proper security, health and wellbeing standards and that is what we’re intent on delivering, instead of luxury sites, as we’ve seen over recent years."