The 2024 local elections have left Labour with plenty to be chipper about. The party has gained control of a fine spread of councils — such as Nuneaton & Bedworth in Warwickshire, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, Thurrock in Essex, Rushmoor in Hampshire, and Adur in West Sussex. All, to varying degrees, are Leave-voting English local areas.
But a pattern has emerged that is concerning some in the Labour Party: the degree of losses it has suffered in parts of the country with relatively high Muslim populations. Compared to the rest of the country, Labour’s vote share is down in such areas.
Bucking the wider national trend, Labour lost control of Oldham Council. While local party leader Arooj Shah denied this was down to Sir Keir Starmer’s positioning on Gaza (it is worth noting the historic gross mismanagement of cases of group-based child sexual exploitation in the area), it is likely to have been a factor.
Labour would have hoped to have gained control of Bolton. But it didn’t, partly down to the “Gaza effect”, with victorious, independent, pro-ceasefire candidates such as Ayyub Chota Patel in Rumworth ward dedicating their wins to the Palestinian people. Pro-Palestine independents also had a field day in Blackburn, gaining Muslim-heavy wards from Labour such as Central Blackburn and Bastwell & Daisyfield.
Other cases of independents gaining seats from Labour in northern English areas with relatively high Muslim populations include Daneshouse with Stoneyholme in Burnley. There was also a surge in independent representation in Bradford’s inner-city wards. Among those successful candidates were Mohammed Ali Islam, 20, Ismail Uddin, 19, and 18-year-old Atira Malik, who is currently studying for her A-Levels.
Meanwhile, the Workers Party of Britain (WPB) gained two seats in Rochdale (where leader George Galloway pulled off his stunning parliamentary by-election win), as well as winning Park ward in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, which covers the Muslim-heavy area to the west of Halifax.
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