Labour majorities slashed in Muslim areas as five pro-Palestine independents gain seats
Labour may have won a landslide victory, but there were huge upsets for some candidates who faced pro-Palestine independents.
Five candidates who stood on pro-Gaza platforms won seats as the Muslim vote for Labour appeared to collapse.
In the most shocking toppling, shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat in Leicester South.
Shockat Adam, an independent who had focused his campaigning on Palestine, dramatically defeated the man who would have been Paymaster General.
Mr Ashworth was unseated by fewer than 1,000 votes. He had been a familiar face on Labour’s election campaign trail.
Following the result Mr Ashworth, who won a majority of more than 22,000 votes in 2019, said: “It’s very disappointing, but that’s democracy. The most important thing is that Labour is heading into government.”
It follows simmering anger at Sir Keir Starmer over the party’s stance in the Israel/Gaza war and clumsy comments he made about Bangladeshi migrants during an event.
Labour’s vote was estimated to be down an average 11 points in seats where more than 10 per cent of the population identify as Muslim.
Labour’s Khalid Mahmood lost to Ayoub Khan by 507 votes in Birmingham Perry Barr. Mr Khan had made the conflict in Gaza central to his campaign.
Heather Iqbal, a former aid to Rachel Reeves, lost Dewsbury and Batley by more than 6,000 votes to independent Iqbal Mohamed.
Defending Blackburn MP Kate Hollern was defeated by independent Adnan Hussain who told the count in his speech: “This is for Gaza.”
In the most high-profile independent win of the night, Jeremy Corbyn beat Labour in Islington North. Iain Duncan Smith also held Chingford and Woodford Green for the Tories after Faiza Shaheen, who stood as an independent when she was ousted as the Labour candidate, split the vote.
Meanwhile, senior Labour figures in areas with large Muslim populations only narrowly held their seats or saw their majorities slashed.
In Ilford North shadow health secretary Wes Streeting won his seat by 528 votes with British Palestinian independent Leanne Mohamad coming a close second.
Rushanara Ali, who was defending one of the largest majorities in the country, beat independent candidate Ajmal Masroor by just 1,689 votes.
Jess Phillips, who last year resigned as a shadow minister to back calls for a Gaza ceasefire, was met with boos as it was announced she had won her Birmingham Yardley seat by fewer than 700 votes. The Workers Party of Britain came second.
“This election has been the worst election I have ever stood in,” Ms Phillips said.
However, George Galloway lost the Rochdale constituency just months after winning the seat in a shock by-election.
The leader of the Workers Party, who did not stay to hear the general election result, lost to Labour’s Paul Waugh, a former Evening Standard journalist.
Mr Galloway swept to victory in Rochdale in February, gaining almost 40 per cent of the vote in a contest dominated by the Gaza war.
Ex-Labour leader Lord Kinnock said: “Galloway is repulsive. He always has been.” Shadow minister Pat McFadden told LBC: “Overall, we’ve got a great victory, but where we’ve lost ground, we want to learn from that.”
Asked about the Labour party recognising a state of Palestine, he added: “We want to do that. You know we said we want to do that during the campaign, but we want to do it at the right time, when it has the most impact. A number of countries already do that and it hasn’t had much impact.”
