Labour Loses 5 Seats to Pro-Palestinian Independents

Undated photo of protesters in Parliament Square during a pro-Palestine march in London. James Manning/PA

Labour has lost five seats to independent challengers, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, after they campaigned on a pro-Palestine platform.

While the Labour Party won a landslide victory in the UK general election on Friday, ending 14 years of Tory rule, some of its large majorities were overturned by pro-Gaza independent candidates, who capitalised on Muslim frustrations over Israel and Palestine.

The Israel–Hamas war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists, who control Gaza, led attacks on Israel, killing over 1,200 people, including children, and taking over 240 hostages.

Protesters have been since calling for a ceasefire and an end to the conflict as well as civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

In its manifesto, the Labour Party committed to recognising a Palestinian state. Despite this, areas with large Muslim populations have gained seats owing to sentiment that the party wasn’t backing it enough.

The grassroots campaign The Muslim Vote urged the UK’s 4 million Muslims to vote tactically over Palestine.

However mass migration critics warned that such a development is “wrecking our politics.”

‘Bloodshed’

Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth was unseated by an independent in Leicester South.

Shockat Adam’s manifesto said that he would champion “Leicester’s values of global peace and justice, which have been neglected by the current government. Our constituency MP refused to vote for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.”

In Dewsbury and Batley, independent candidate Iqbal Mohamed, whose key focus areas included a ceasefire and peace agreement in Gaza, beat the Labour candidate Heather Iqbal.

Batley is the town in West Yorkshire where a religious studies teacher was forced into hiding following accusations of blasphemy in March 2021 after he showed his class a caricature of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on British values, prompting protests outside Batley Grammar School.

On Mr. Mohamed’s website, he said that “both main parties have given their full support to the genocide in Palestine and continue to sell arms that are used to kill innocent civilians in breach of international law.”

In Blackburn, Adnan Hussain won in a town which has been represented by Labour since 1955.

In a speech to a group of men amid of calls of “Inch'Allah,” he said that he couldn’t believe that this “kind of filth is within our communities.”

“You have to carry on the fight. Work towards a better community,” he added.

And in Birmingham Perry Barr, the former Labour MP Khalid Mahmood lost to the independent and former Lib Dem Ayoub Khan.

Mike Jones, director of the think tank Migration Watch, warned of the new political “sectarianism,” with divisions rooted in ethnic differences.

“Mass immigration, especially from outside Europe, doesn’t just hurt the economy—it wrecks our politics,” he told The Epoch Times by email.

“New voters with different values change the way parties campaign and shape policy. We’re already seeing this with the Israel–Palestine protests and the introduction of a ‘Hindu manifesto.’ This is sectarianism by any other name, and it will only get worse,” he added.

‘Worst Election’

Labour’s Jess Phillips narrowly managed to hold onto her Birmingham Yardley seat, with 11,275 votes compared to the 10,582 won by Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre.

“This election has been the worst election I have ever stood in,” she said as she was met with boos and jeers from pro-Palestine activists in the audience.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, narrowly secured reelection in Birmingham Ladywood early on Friday, after beating pro-Palestine and independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob by just under 3,500 votes.

Ex-Labour leader Mr. Corbyn ran as an independent and successfully retained his long-held seat of Islington North in London.

“Today, Palestine is on the ballot,” he wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday.

“If you re-elect me as an Independent MP in Islington North, I promise to always stand up for the people of Gaza, and for the only path to a just and lasting peace: an end to the occupation of Palestine,” he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.