Labour national campaign coordinator has suggested the party’s stance on Gaza has been an “issue” in some contests as the local election results continue to come in.
A backlash over the party’s position on the conflict in the Middle East has been linked to Labour losing overall control of Oldham Council, despite otherwise positive local election results.
Independent candidates, many of whom explicitly campaigned in support of Palestine, gained five seats on Thursday night.
Reacting to the result, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden acknowledged the crisis in Gaza had been “a factor in some places”, saying that with “so many innocent people being killed I’m not surprised people have strong feelings about that”.
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However, he added that “very local factors” had also played a role in Oldham, which Labour had controlled since 2011.
McFadden told LBC: “I think [Gaza] is an issue in some parts of the country and I think there’s no point in me coming on your programme and denying that’s the case. And I’m not surprised that people have strong feelings about this issue.
“And so many thousands of innocent people have been killed and people want it to stop, and we do too”.
He added: “If there’s a place where we’ve lost the trust of somebody who maybe voted Labour before, I can’t predict what all of those people voted in the past, then we’ll work hard to get that support back”.
Speaking in Blackpool on Friday morning, Labour leader Keir Starmer told the BBC he was “concerned wherever we lose votes” and intended to win them back — but added Labour was picking up seats across the country where it needed to.
During the election campaign in Oldham, opposition leaflets featuring comments Starmer made on LBC, where he appeared to back Israel shutting off power and water were circulated. The Labour leader has since attempted to clarify the remarks, insisting he had only been supporting Israel’s right to self-defence.
In light of the results coming in overnight on Friday, election expert Sir John Curtice has also noted a trend of Labour “falling back” in places where many people identify as Muslim.
In an article for BBC News, Curtice wrote: “There are though signs that Labour may have fallen back somewhat in places where many people identify as Muslim. This is most likely a reflection of their discontent with Labour’s stance on the war in Gaza. On average, the party’s support is down by eight points since last year in wards where more than 10% of people identify as Muslim.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
