Labour’s demographic crisis

Will they lose the 'green wall'?

It’s local election week in Britain [stifles yawn] and a chance to observe the exciting next generation of political idealists. Among those standing for office in Burnley, Lancashire, 18-year-old Maheen Kamran is an aspiring medical student who was ‘motivated to enter politics by the war in Gaza, where she believes a “genocide” is taking place.’ Kamran told PoliticsHome that she wanted to ‘improve school standards, public cleanliness and encourage public spaces to end “free mixing” between men and women.’

Sensible policies for a happier Islamic Britain.

‘Muslim women aren’t really comfortable with being involved with Muslim men,’ the youngster told the website: ‘I'm sure we can have segregated areas, segregated gyms, where Muslim women don’t have to sacrifice their health.’

The Labour Party, already suffering from internal divisions over slightly different sex segregation-related issues, faces a far bigger crisis within its coalition. Last July saw the election of sectarian candidates in England for the first since the 1920s, with five ‘Gaza independents’ taking seats from Labour. This week will give some indication of whether it’s a permanent problem, with dozens of independents likely to win in the locals.

The crisis was sparked by the October 7 massacre, but the conditions were there for some time. It was in Burnley, a former mill town long dominated by Labour, where 10 councillors resigned from the party over the issue of Palestine in November 2023, one of the first signs that the Gaza war was going to cause big problems for Labour.

And so it did, with a general election that featured the grimmest scenes of intimidation seen in England in generations – scenes more in tune with 18^th century electioneering, minus the excuse of drunkenness. Labour MPs like Jess Phillips in Birmingham and Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester were subject to jostling and jeering, and Ashworth lost his seat to independent Shockat Adam, who at the election count proclaimed ‘This is for the people of Gaza’ while holding up a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf. The Muslim Vote pressure group boasted of having an ‘unprecedented’ influence on the election.

Indeed, and as polls currently stand, many Labour MPs are likely to lose their seats at the next election, squeezed out by independents who may yet evolve from a faction into some kind of cohesive party.