St Albans MP Anne Main met the Foreign Secretary to discuss the legitimacy of the Bangladesh recent general elections and the refugee crisis.

The Conservative MP, who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh, outlined her concerns about the legitimacy of the election result after reports of electoral fraud and brutality.

She said: “I wanted to meet with Jeremy Hunt as this is a very worrying time in Bangladesh and it is vital the UK government are working hard to help ensure things do not get worse.

“You cannot have a free and democratic country, which is what I hope for Bangladesh, if there are endless dubious elections with reports from all over the world saying the result was illegitimate.”

Mrs Main has worked to press for action for the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the form of UK aid.

She asked Mr Hunt to encourage UK influence so large populations of refugees in Bangladesh are not placed onto repatriation lists by Bangladesh authorities and moved back to Myanmar.

Mrs Main said: “I know the foreign secretary has taken this issue extremely seriously and the government are doing everything possible to help those refugees in the camps but we must keep the pressure up. With everything else that is going on around the world and here in the UK, we mustn’t forget a million people are living in cramped and squalid refugee camps after fleeing some of the most heinous crimes ever committed.

“There are still some very real problems facing the people in those camps. Bhashan Char island is still being considered as a place to rehome the Rohingya which, to my mind, is totally unacceptable. Bangladesh and Burma appear to be pressing ahead with premature plans to repatriate some Rohingya back to Myanmar without any proper investigation, guarantees or justice.”

Jeremy Hunt discussed the UK attitude and approach towards the crisis. He expressed his goal to bring justice to "perpetrators of the crisis".

Mrs Main hopes Bangladesh will see "a brighter and more prosperous future".