LONDON: Labour leader Keir Starmer has hit back after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused him of planning to 鈥渟it down with the Iranian ayatollah鈥� and of making a 鈥渄eal with the Taliban鈥� on return agreements in a bid to clear the UK鈥檚 asylum backlog.

During a televised debate aired on Wednesday, the Conservative leader rejected his election rival鈥檚 argument that he would seek to move asylum seekers to safe countries or return them to their home countries, adding that many had arrived in the UK from Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.

鈥淚s he going to sit down with the Iranian ayatollah? Are you going to try to do a deal with the Taliban? It鈥檚 completely nonsensical; you are taking people for fools,鈥� Sunak said in a BBC leaders鈥� debate.

As part of his election campaign, Starmer has said he wants to negotiate return agreements as part of efforts to address the country鈥檚 chronic asylum backlog, which has worsened due to recent legislation brought in by the Conservatives, which does not allow asylum claims to be processed while deportations to Rwanda are on hold.

鈥淭here are some things that are not sensible for the asylum policy. That was a throwaway comment from the prime minister himself who had no answer to that question,鈥� Starmer said on Thursday.

鈥淏ut leaving those claims unprocessed is not the answer to that. Of course, there will be countries, Afghanistan for example, where you can鈥檛 return people 鈥� people who perhaps helped us by interpreting for our troops in Afghanistan and put themselves at risk; people who in my constituency were fleeing war in Afghanistan and found we weren鈥檛 able to get them out on those flights. Of course, in relation to their particular cases they鈥檙e not going to be returned to Afghanistan.

鈥淏ut what we can鈥檛 do is stay with this absurd situation where there鈥檚 just a growing and growing number to which the prime minister has got absolutely no answer. It is absurd and reckless,鈥� he added.

Polls have predicted Starmer is on course to win the July 4 election with a large majority, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. The Labour leader and Sunak have clashed at several debates or public sessions with voters in recent weeks over who was better suited to lead the country.