Labour’s election chief has said Sir Keir Starmer needs to win back voters who have abandoned the party over its stance on Gaza.
Pat McFadden acknowledged that Sir Keir’s approach to the conflict cost the party votes at the local elections, with traditional Labour supporters jumping ship to support independent candidates standing on a pro-Palestinian stance.
Analysis by the Telegraph has found Labour’s support plummeted in areas with a high Muslim population, including Oldham, in Greater Manchester, where the party lost control of the council in a shock defeat.
In the West Midlands mayoral race, where Labour’s Richard Parker beat incumbent Andy Street by a wafer-thin margin, Akhmed Yakoob, an independent candidate backed by George Galloway, took nearly 70,000 votes.
Sir Keir addressed the issue head-on after the result, stressing that he was determined to win back the trust of those who had snubbed his party as a result of his approach to the ongoing conflict.
Gaza row
Asked if the Gaza row had taken a toll on Labour’s vote, Mr McFadden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I do acknowledge that in some parts of the country that was the case and there will be some people who maybe voted Labour in the past who haven’t in the local elections because of this issue, and where that’s the case, we’ll work to get people’s support back.”
Writing for The Telegraph on Sunday, Professor Sir John Curtice, Britain’s foremost polling expert, said Labour had “often lost ground”, sometimes heavily, in wards where many people identify as Muslim.
On average, in a sample of wards where the BBC collected detailed voting figures, support for Labour where more than 10 per cent say they are Muslim was on average down by as much as 14 points on last year.
Mr McFadden admitted that Gaza was a “factor” in the party’s fortunes in Oldham specifically, a town where a quarter of the population is Muslim.
But he insisted it was not the “only one” topic in play, adding: “I think it’s a bit too easy to ascribe every difficult result just to one issue.”
‘Serious electoral consequence’
Ali Milani, the chair of the Labour Muslim Network, has warned Labour’s position on Gaza “is going to have a serious electoral consequence”, adding: “If I was a Labour MP in Bradford, Birmingham, Leicester, or parts of London or Manchester, I would be seriously concerned.”
Asked what he would say to people who took issue with Sir Keir’s handling of the situation, Mr McFadden said: “What I would say to them is that the better life that people want for the Palestinian people is something the Labour leadership shares. If we’re fortunate enough to be elected at a general election, it’s a very high foreign policy priority for the Labour Party.
“Two things have guided us all the way through since October 7. The first was defending Israel’s right to defend itself after that atrocity, and that remains part of our position, and the second is working to get a better future for the Palestinian people.
“And both of those things will guide our position going forward. So we understand why people have got strong feelings about this - and why wouldn’t they, when it’s such a difficult and desperate situation?”
Speaking in Birmingham following the West Midlands result on Saturday night, in what turned out to be an extremely tight contest, Sir Keir sent a direct message to those who felt they could not support Labour because of its stance on Gaza.
“I say directly to those who may have voted Labour in the past, but felt on this occasion they couldn’t, that across the West Midlands we are a proud and diverse community. I have heard you. I have listened,” he said. “And I am determined to meet your concerns and to gain your respect and trust again in the future.”
However, when pressed later on what concrete pledges he could make, he was non-committal, telling The Telegraph: “I think it’s very important to treat everybody with dignity and respect. And I always do that.”