You can't vote Labour: Will pro-Palestinian Brits sway the UK election? | Politics News

Tim Flynn, a 71-year-old retired psychotherapist from London, England, has voted Labour his entire life.

But on July 4, he plans to protest the party with a pencil. He will mark a cross on his ballot next to the local Green Party candidate.

He said there was no way I was voting Labor this time. It's clear where it is [Labour leader Keir Starmers] Politics is a lie. His politics revolve around capitalism, imperialism, and support for Israel.

If you don't support a ceasefire, I will lose your vote.

Flynn's London constituency, Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, is a safe Labor constituency. And nationally, Starmer is widely expected to win the general election with a significant majority after 14 years of Conservative rule, making him Britain's next prime minister.

But his stance on the Gaza war disappointed traditional Labor voters such as Flynn.

Starmer voted against a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in November. Just last week, as the death toll in Gaza rose to 38,000, Starmer reaffirmed Israel's right to self-defense in a radio interview, saying he would not declare what was or was not genocide.

The Labour leader also said all countries, including Israel, should be held to account in the international courts and promised to review legal advice on arms sales to Israel if she became prime minister.

But that promise is unlikely to dissuade voters like Flynn from abandoning the party. Flynn regularly monitors the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. He was overcome with emotion when he recalled the image of a child running away from Israeli forces in the West Bank.

They shot him in the back of the head. I have a 9-year-old grandson, and I think he got shot in the back of the head. Yeah, and they get away with it.

Such sentiments are expected to cost Labour some support, but it is unclear how much damage it will do to the party.

Memories of 2005 and the Iraq War

There are four main options for pro-Palestinian Britons who feel neither Labour nor the Conservatives represent their views: abstain or spoil the vote, back an independent candidate running on a pro-Palestine platform, vote for the Liberal Democrats, or Flynn nods to this despite the Greens being projected to win by less than 10%.

The Greens say they support the immediate ceasefire that most Britons want and want to end arms sales to Israel. They also say they want to redouble their efforts to free Israeli prisoners in Gaza and support South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

The Liberal Democrats have supported a ceasefire for months, demanding the release of prisoners and wanting to chart a path towards a two-state solution.

A recent report from YouGov suggests that Labor is losing some voters in areas with large Muslim populations, particularly to the Greens, but this trend is unlikely to have any impact on the results.

Political scientist and pollster John Curtice said it was perhaps more doubtful whether Labor MPs would lose seats.

However, British foreign policy has influenced voting patterns in at least one previous election.

The late former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy is pictured in the final weeks of the 2005 British election campaign when the credibility of Tony Blair's version of events leading up to the invasion of Iraq became a common theme for both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. general election [Reuters]

During the 2005 Iraq war, Labor lost significant ground in areas with significant Muslim communities, Curtice said.

In the end, Labor won and the Liberal Democrats made some gains.

They opposed the Iraq war and won a lot of votes for it, Curtis said. It's not the first time there's been a bridge between at least some in the Muslim community and the willingness to vote Labor.

Dissatisfaction with Britain's unwavering support for Israel, regardless of which party is in power, has spread to university campuses in a series of protests that began in the United States.

Loss of confidence in the electoral system

When dozens of students at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) chanted for a free, free Palestine to the beat of traditional drums, a brief moment of tension interrupted their rhythm.

Am Israel Chai! An onlooker shouted at them, a slogan meaning 'the people of Israel are alive'.

But as they gathered in the sweltering afternoon heat, they continued to demand that the university sever its financial ties with Israel, many with their faces covered in keffiyeh. One person held a loudspeaker and recited verses from the Quran, recalling some of the most tragic moments to have plagued Gaza, such as the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab.

The two women then called for the Kashmiri song “Azaadi”, a song that has now become the motif of student-led protests for Palestine around the world.

University security guards watched with skepticism as they occupied the plaza outside the campus building. One student accused him of violence. Although voices were raised in disagreement, Al Jazeera did not witness any physical clashes.

The heated atmosphere died down a bit during lunch when a student unveiled a huge plate of makruba, an upside-down meat and rice dish popular in Palestine.

Most Britons support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to a recent opinion poll. [Anealla Safdar/Al Jazeera]

Sadia Sheraz, a 24-year-old masters student at LSE, said she came from a working-class family in the northern English city of Manchester, which had always voted Labor.

She said, “I cannot in good conscience vote for Labour in the coming election.” I have not yet decided whether to vote or not because I am losing faith in the electoral system. But if I do vote, I will probably vote Green.

She said Labor and the Conservatives were very close to each other morally over the genocide committed by Israel, adding that she had hoped Starmer, a former lawyer, would be able to assess what the conflict was.

This calls into question not only his leadership and authority, but also his intellectual capacity.

Saadia Siraj, who voted Labour in the past like her family, has not yet decided whether to take part in the July 4 election. [Anealla Safdar/Al Jazeera]
I hope he calls for a ceasefire.

A 20-something LSE undergraduate who asked to remain anonymous said he supports the Green Party.

Her London constituency, Brentford and Isleworth, has been held by Labour's Ruth Cadbury since 2015. Cadbury, who abstained on the November motion, is expected to easily retain his seat.

The student said he had emailed Cadbury several times, pleading for an immediate ceasefire.

There are many Muslims in my constituency and we all want a ceasefire in Palestine. We all emailed our legislators and said: “Represent what your constituents want. But she wasn't like that.

She said she imagined Starmer as prime minister and wished he would call for a ceasefire. I hope he would stop selling arms from Britain to Israel. But I don't think that's very hopeful. A lot of people in my generation, and a lot of Muslims in general, are turning to the Green Party. [Starmer] He said Israel has the right to defend itself, and it is an abomination to say that amidst the suffering in Gaza.

A Palestinian flag flutters in the wind outside a restaurant in central London. [Anealla Safdar/Al Jazeera]

Many of Britain's four million Muslims (around 6.5% of the population) have taken part in weekly street demonstrations as part of a campaign to show solidarity with Gaza and boycott Israel since the historic Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated following Hamas' invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

The attack, led by the group that rules the Gaza Strip, killed more than 1,100 people and captured about 250.

With the goal of crushing Hamas, Israel retaliated with its deadliest war to date in the Strip.

Gaza is not the only problem for British Muslims

But not all Muslims think alike, warned Shabna Begum, head of the Runnymede Trust race equality think tank.

We must be careful not to think of Muslims as a voting bloc, as a monolithic society, she said.

Yes, Muslims certainly support the Palestinian people, but the war in Gaza is not the only issue that concerns Muslims across the country, and it is not reasonable to assume that such a diverse community will share the same views on other issues that are important to them.

She explained that working-class Muslims expect politicians to address issues of cost of living, adequate and affordable housing, and health care.

The various political parties that do not speak persuasively on these issues cannot take the so-called Muslim vote on July 4 for granted, Begum said.

The rise of the independent candidate

Luqmaan Waqar, a PhD student at King's College London who threw a stone at the LSE protest, said he had voted Labour in previous elections but left the party as a member in 2020.

He said the rise of principled independent candidates gives him hope. Some candidates are campaigning in support of Palestine and represent a gentle move toward greater political pluralism.

He briefly considered running, but now devotes his spare time to canvassing for Leanne Mohamed, the British Palestinian candidate seeking to unseat Labour's Wes Streeting in Ilford, east London.

In the nearby constituency, he will vote for Faiza Shaheen, but that is because she was blocked by Labour from standing for the party and is now standing as an independent candidate. Labour officials have accused Shaheen of liking X’s post, which downplayed accusations of antisemitism.

PhD student Luqmaan Waqar is supporting an independent candidate with a pro-Palestinian platform. [Anealla Safdar/Al Jazeera]

Waqar, a former left-wing Labour leader who fervently supported Palestinian rights, said he was never attracted to Starmer.

To be honest, you can't stick a pin in between them. [the Conservatives and Labour]he said. What does Keir Starmer believe? I don't believe at all that now is the time to support a strong independent force.

In Starmer's seat of Holborn and St Pancras, anti-Zionist Jewish former South African politician Andrew Feinstein is busy trying to secure votes as an independent candidate.

Many independents are struggling to campaign despite lacking political experience and community consensus, said Muhammad Meman, founder of Palitics, an online tool that uses data and AI to inform voters how to challenge Labor's predicted victory.

This confusion, combined with credible alternatives from the Greens and Liberal Democrats, undermines their influence. In many regions, many independent lawmakers are running, further dividing the vote.

But overall, Muslims are still likely to vote Labor, he added.

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