Starmer's legacy: Labour has a mountain to climb to recover its Muslim voters

Starmer's legacy: Labour has a mountain to climb to recover its Muslim voters Submitted by Emad Ahmed on Wed, 07/01/2026 - 10:58 The party's stance on Gaza caused a rupture with nearly half of its former voters deserting the party, especially in constituencies with large Muslim populations Prime Minister Keir Starmer pictured in London in April, two months before his resignation announcement (AFP) Off In October 2023, as Israel was starting its genocide in Gaza, then-leader of the opposition Keir Starmer was asked a simple question during an LBC interview with Nick Ferrari about Israel’s use of deliberate starvation of Palestinians . Starmer said he thought Israel had a “right” to cut off electricity and water supplies to Palestinians living in Gaza, an act that would constitute a crime in modern warfare. He could not have been aware of the damage he had just inflicted on Labour amongst its core voters, including British Muslims. Starmer’s comments led to a barrage of criticism from within and outside the party, which has historically been more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than the rival Conservative party - and at least more open to Palestinian voices. Within weeks of his comments, over 150 Muslim Labour councillors had written to the Labour party leadership imploring it to call for an immediate ceasefire. It was a plea that was ignored, and the first signs of a major rupture between the Muslim community and Labour soon became apparent. Despite holding a near-constant lead in the polls since December 2021 that resulted in a sweeping landslide at the subsequent 2024 general election, Labour lost multiple constituencies with large Muslim populations. It also formed a majority government with the lowest vote share for a ruling party. The rise of the independents This included the loss of the newly formed Dewsbury and Batley constituency in West Yorkshire. The preceding local elections of May 2024 were a sign of trouble, as many disaffected voters chose independent councillors across the country. That included Kirklees Council, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire which covers the Dewsbury and Batley areas. Can Andy Burnham offer Labour a new destiny? Read More » It is a pattern that has continued through this year’s recent local elections too. “I did not leave because my values changed. I left because I believe the party's direction has changed,” said Yusra Hussain, a local councillor who defected from Labour, and was recently elected to a full term in the Batley West ward with two other independents. Any discussion of Labour’s misfortunes must include the major shifts the party has undergone in the past decade. Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership set out a cohesive set of radical left-wing policies focussed on renationalisation, major public investment and social rights. It was on this platform of the so-called “10 pledges” that Keir Starmer won the 2020 leadership, but he soon abandoned them one after the other, veering the party rightwards far beyond even the heyday of New Labour. The consequences can be seen in the old Batley and Spen constituency, where the previous majority held by now-West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin was cut to just 323 in the 2021 by-election, which included evergreen spoiler, and Palestine advocate, George Galloway as a candidate. Not having a coherent narrative left Starmer and Labour vulnerable in the newly formed Dewsbury and Batley constituency. “What united so many voters was a firm belief that this country is - in a myriad of ways - failing the vast majority of people, their basic needs and their human rights, be that at home or abroad,” said current independent MP Iqbal Mohamed. The political cost of backing Israel Along with the abandonment of traditional centre-left viewpoints, moving the party towards a pro-Israel ideology was a devastating shift in this constituency with an approximate 43 percent Muslim population. Independents won elsewhere too, including in Blackburn and Birmingham Perry Barr, both with even higher British Asian populations. The shift away from a sympathetic approach to Palestine under Starmer may be even more disruptive to Labour's voter base than its shift to the right. Not only was Corbyn in favour of Palestinian statehood, but so was Ed Miliband. The latter voted in favour of state recognition in late 2014 when the party was under his stewardship. UK was an 'active participant' in Israeli war crimes, Corbyn tribunal finds Read More » And despite Starmer finally recognising Palestinian statehood late last year alongside Canada and France, the damage to party support had already been completed. Recent polling after this year’s local elections shows over half of the party’s former voters , which crucially includes more than just the Muslim community, citing Labour’s inaction on the genocide as a reason for them switching their votes to the Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Lib Dems and independents. Labour once had a leftist support base that has also bled away to other parties after the hounding out of its former leader, Corbyn, and his rise as an independent left voice. For Labour, the net decline could be akin to the death of many other traditionally centre-left parties of Western Europe after the 2008 financial crisis. In fact, the Greens are now seen as a viable alternative, particularly after the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester earlier this year. A YouGov poll said that over a fifth of Labour’s former voters have shifted to the Greens. In this opinion video, Joe Gill, journalist and editor at Middle East Eye, challenges UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s narrative that he rescued Labour after inheriting a morally, financially and politically bankrupt party from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. From opposing a… pic.twitter.com/YpjzjksDNk — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 24, 2026 This new malaise can be seen across the country, including in Dewsbury and Batley. The recent council elections in Kirklees returned a minority Reform administration, with their intended leader receiving widespread mockery for not understanding how procedures work. The council remains without a leader until another vote to break the deadlock later this month. The various Batley and Dewsbury wards returned 11 pro-Palestine independent councillors and five Reform candidates. And under the current fractured voting system that is not ready to sustain multi-party democracy, Labour did not return a single candidate to the council. According to Mohamed, Dewsbury and Batley have firmly rejected the broken two-party system. He said: “They deserted en masse a Labour Party that has for too long treated residents with contempt, taken their vote for granted, and aided and abetted the Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people.” A likely Andy Burnham-led government would need to take decisive action to change the party’s direction both at home and abroad, if Labour is to reverse that loss of trust. UK Politics West Yorkshire, UK News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0