Starmer accused of 'awful response' on Labour's relationship with British Muslims

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been accused of giving "an awful response" when asked about the Labour Party's relationship with British Muslims.

In a recent interview, Starmer was questioned about General Election results showing the declining support of Labour by British Muslims, who have traditionally always supported the party.

Despite winning a historic landslide in areas where there is a high British Muslim population, Labour saw its vote share fall overall and lost four seats to pro-Gaza independents.

When asked about the party’s relationship with Muslims, Starmer said: “Very many people voted Labour in that General Election who never voted Labour before, so we now hold seats in parts of the country that have never had a Labour MP.

“This is an incredibly strong mandate but of course wherever we were not able to secure votes, I am concerned about that but this is a clear mandate for change.”

Pro-Gaza independent candidates standing in Birmingham - Perry Barr, Blackburn, Dewsbury and Batley, and Leicester South - all beat Labour candidates, with Jonathan Ashworth who was expected to serve in Starmer’s cabinet, being the biggest upset.

With Labour winning massively across the country, these defeats were viewed as a shock and an indication of a tense relationship with the party and the British Muslim community.

Starmer’s answer when asked about it has caused upset. A clip of the interview has been watched more than 1.5 million times, with hundreds of comments criticising the prime minister.

One of Labour's own MPs, Apsana Begum, said the answer was “awful” and a “missed opportunity".

"This is an awful response from Keir and lacks any acknowledgement of the need to build trust amongst British Muslims who feel that Labour has let them down,” Ms Begum told ITV News.

“Labour's position on Gaza – especially Starmer’s infamous comments about Israel’s right to cut off electricity to Gaza – came up over and over again during the election across the country and clearly lost Labour votes.

“There is no doubt that lots of voters have serious concerns about Starmer's record on Gaza, Islamophobia and migration, amongst a number of other issues. This was an opportunity for Keir to assure British Muslims he was listening. An opportunity ignored."

Starmer caused controversy during an interview with LBC when he appeared to say that Israel had the right to withhold power and water from Gaza.

Several days later, he reversed that position, only then to advise elected Labour representatives to not attend ceasefire protests.

When the issue came to a vote in Parliament, Labour MPs were instructed not to vote for a ceasefire, which resulted in several members of Starmer's then-shadow Cabinet resigning.

The party’s position has since shifted with the election manifesto emphasising the need for a ceasefire in Gaza and to recognise a Palestinian state as part of a peace process.

Leanne Mohamad stood at the recent election as an independent candidate in the Labour safe seat of Ilford North. She came within 530 votes of beating the Health Secretary Wes Streeting in what would have been a huge upset.

She accused the Labour leader of “burying his head in the sand.”

"Starmer's lamentable response to a question about the mass disillusionment of Muslim voters shows that Labour has not learned any lessons from the election,” Ms Mohamad told ITV News.

“There is a growing appetite to move away from this two-party system. But he continues to bury his head in the sand. We are not going away."

Have you heard our podcast Talking Politics? Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda in every episode…