TSwizzle
I am unburdened by what has been.
in some muslim populated areas. It was only a matter of time and that time is fast approaching. The Labour party used to be able to count on the muslim vote but that is changing.
Politics
BBC earlier
Burnley was celebrating its football club securing promotion to the Premier League when PoliticsHome visited earlier this week. However, away from the jubilation is a story of deprivation that has long affected post-industrial parts of Lancashire, with government statistics showing Burnley to have record numbers of young people living in poverty. According to Rob Ford, author and politics professor at the University of Manchester, the "general level of discontent in the Muslim communities is very high". Then there is the ongoing war in Gaza, which Ford told PoliticsHome had been a "lightning rod" issue, prompting Muslim voters to move away from Labour over its response to the conflict. One Labour MP told PoliticsHome that their party's focus on combating Reform risks ignoring the electoral threat posed by candidates in these areas. “People in the party are putting their focus on Reform, which I get, but also at the expense of this threat,” they said, adding, "these are real extremists." Maheen Kamran, 18, an aspiring medical student, is standing as an independent for Burnley Central East. She was motivated to enter politics by the war in Gaza, where she believes a “genocide” is taking place. Kamran told PoliticsHome she wanted to improve school standards, public cleanliness and encourage public spaces to end “free mixing” between men and women. “There’s a big aspect of free mixing,” she said. “Muslim women aren’t really comfortable with being involved with Muslim men. I'm sure we can have segregated areas, segregated gyms, where Muslim women don't have to sacrifice their health.”
Khalid Mahmood, the former Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, who lost the seat to a pro-Gaza independent, said his party increasingly appears to be accommodating "Islamist" interests and needed to stand up against it. “While some Islamist organisations continue to pressure the government under the guise of combating Islamophobia, their demands are rarely about genuine inclusion. They are political and often incompatible with liberal democratic values,” he told PoliticsHome.
Politics
BBC earlier
Labour has lost a handful of former strongholds to independent candidates campaigning on pro-Gaza platforms. In one of the biggest shocks of the night, shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth lost his Leicester South seat, which had a majority of more than 22,000. The party's vote is down on average by 23 points in seats where 20% or more of the population identify as Muslim. In Ilford North, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting was among those who saw his majority slashed - from more than 9,000 to 528. in areas with a high proportion of Muslim voters the party performed badly. Labour has lost five seats with large Muslim populations - four to independents and one to the Conservatives. In Leicester South, Shockat Adam declared "this is for Gaza" as he won the seat by 979 votes. The constituency, where around 30% of the electorate are Muslim, has been held by Mr Ashworth for 13 years. Meanwhile, independent candidates who made the conflict in Gaza central to their campaign won in Dewsbury and Batley, as well as Blackburn, which both previously had healthy Labour majorities.
BBC