11 councillors quit Labour over stance on ceasefire in Gaza – after calling for Sir Keir Starmer to resign
The leader of Burnley Council and 10 other councillors have resigned from the Labour Party over Sir Keir Starmer’s decision not to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, Sky News understands.
Afrasiab Anwar, who has been in the party for 10 years, said it had been a “really difficult decision” to leave Labour.
He was among those calling for Sir Keir to step down on Thursday.
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‘Is ceasefire issue tearing Labour apart?’
The 11 councillors described their memberships as “untenable” given the leadership’s refusal to demand a ceasefire in the Middle East.
In a statement, they said Sir Keir had indicated he “does not value the voice of the grassroots of the party” – citing remarks the opposition leader made following a speech on Friday in the North East.
Sir Keir, who has come under internal pressure for Labour to demand a cessation of hostilities, told reporters his focus was on stopping the suffering in Gaza, not on the “individual positions” of party members.
Labour has backed the UK government’s stance of calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid and medical treatments to reach Palestinians in Gaza.
Analysis: Sir Keir’s attempts to draw a line under the ceasefire row are backfiring
Sir Keir Starmer has spent weeks trying to downplay his party’s divisions over the question of a ceasefire in Gaza – but the row continues to escalate.
On Friday he claimed Labour was “united” on the issue because everyone is motivated by the same desire to alleviate human suffering there – and that he just isn’t concerned about the individual positions of party members.
But this attempt to paper over the cracks with optimistic descriptions just isn’t cutting it with many of those members, who feel he’s just not listening.
Now the leader of Burnley Council, one of two Labour council leaders who called on Sir Keir to resign over the issue last week, has himself announced he’s stepping down from the party, along with 10 other councillors.
Cllr Afrasiab Anwar claims the views of grassroots members are being ignored. Some in the party are worried about the kind of exodus of Muslim support seen in the wake of the Iraq war.
It brings the number of councillors to have resigned from Labour to 50 – alongside the many big names who have overstepped the party line in calling for a ceasefire, including the mayors Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and the Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar.
Last week Sir Keir attempted to draw a line under the row with a big speech and a number of interviews clarifying his position, arguing that he shares people’s “human emotion” in response to what’s happening, but that humanitarian pauses are the most practical way to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza.
He pointed out that demanding a ceasefire would negate Israel’s right to defend itself – both positions which are in line with the government.
He’s hoping the wider electorate will sympathise with his arguments and the desire to stand up for Israel after the horrors of 7 October, particularly given the antisemitism allegations which have haunted his party in the past.
The big risk for him is if this rebellion amongst councillors spreads to the parliamentary party.
There’s talk of left wing MPs attempting to force a vote on the issue this week, perhaps in league with the SNP, to expose the scale of opposition to his position.
Many MPs are under real pressure from their constituents – loyal shadow leader of the Commons Lucy Powell told Sky’s Kay Burley this morning she’s had protests outside her office and it’s “a difficult one for all of us to look at”.
The real challenge to Sir Keir’s leadership would be if any of those shadow frontbenchers who’ve publicly defied the party line and called for a ceasefire decide to take it further – and step down.
However, Mr Anwar said the position was “nonsensical” and did not capture the strength of feeling in his Lancashire town, along with communities elsewhere in Britain, about the war.
“We just can’t stand by watching and being part of a party that is not speaking out, or at the very least calling for a ceasefire,” Mr Anwar said.
“Instead of talking of peace – all of our world leaders, including the leader of the Labour Party, are talking about humanitarian pauses. It’s just nonsensical.
“I just don’t think the message is getting through in terms of how our communities, right across the board, are feeling about this.”
He said the group had tried “everything we could by working within the party”.
Mr Anwar added he wanted Labour to “come back to its core values of fighting for social justice”.
Analysis: Starmer’s attempts to draw a line under Gaza ceasefire row ‘aren’t cutting it’
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Protesters shut down central London
In a statement on Sunday, the group said: “It has become apparent that Keir Starmer and the leadership either cannot or will not heed our concerns or acknowledge the sentiments within our communities.”
It added: “In response to our calls for him to resign he responded that the individual concerns of members are not his focus, further illustrating that he does not value the voice of the grassroots of the party.”
The leader of Pendle Council, which is also in Lancashire, also called on Sir Keir to resign on Thursday.
It came after senior Labour figures also broke ranks to challenge Sir Keir’s stance – including London mayor Sadiq Khan, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
Read more:
Sue Gray’s baptism of fire trying to fix Starmer’s ceasefire crisis
Labour rebels try to secure divisive Commons vote on Gaza
A Labour spokesman said: “Labour fully understands calls for a ceasefire.
“Everybody wants to see an end to this cycle of violence and suffering, we need to see hostages released and aid getting to those most in need.
“But a ceasefire now will only freeze this conflict and would leave hostages in Gaza and Hamas with the infrastructure and capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on October 7.
“International law must be followed at all times and innocent civilians must be protected.
“Labour is calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting.
“This is the best and most realistic way to address the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and is a position shared by our major allies, in the US and the EU.”
Politics
Sunak and Starmer facing historic unpopularity with ethnically diverse communities, polling suggests
Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are both facing a historic lack of popularity among ethnically diverse communities, new polling suggests.
While ethnically diverse community voting trends are incredibly complex and almost always hard to predict, some polling can give useful indications that can speak to the mood of the country.
A comprehensive set of data based on polling by Ipsos and shared exclusively with Sky News gives us a general sense of how the leaders of the two main parties are faring at this very specific time.
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Sunak more popular with white voters
Mr Sunak was named the UK’s next leader on the festival of Diwali, serving as a reminder of the milestone in Britain’s evolution as a multicultural and multi-faith society.
He’s the UK’s first prime minister from an ethnically diverse background and the first Hindu prime minister, but in terms of how much ethnically diverse communities have rewarded him for these historic firsts, it’s a somewhat surprising figure.
Over the past year, his approval rating among ethnically diverse communities is -53.
That figure is historic too – it’s one of the worst of any prime minister in nearly 30 years.
Actually, from these figures, he’s much better liked by white voters – who give him a rating of -41.
This is perhaps unsurprising, given that historically the majority of ethnically diverse communities have voted Labour.
Though support for the Conservatives reached a high of 30% in the first half of 2016 and only falling sharply in the aftermath of Brexit and then in the 2017 general election under a different leader.
Sir Keir behind Blair and Brown
For the Labour Party then, the stakes could not be much higher as they bill themselves as the party of equality and progressive politics and ethnically diverse communities have traditionally rewarded them for it.
The party has consistently held large leads with ethnically diverse community voters over the last few decades and under previous Labour leaders, often given net positive satisfaction levels.
The current leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has a more favourable rating than the current prime minister, with an average satisfaction rating over the past year of -32.
But he is also considerably more popular among white voters.
And when you compare these numbers to previous Labour leaders, it is more stark.
Sir Keir’s standing with ethnically diverse community voters currently is the lowest level a Labour leader has recorded among black and south Asian voters since 1996.
Far worse than the very worst ratings recorded by either Tony Blair (at -11 during the Iraq War) or Gordon Brown (at -13).
‘The Gaza Effect’
Now, there are myriad reasons why individuals and different communities have drifted from the central parties and traditional voting patterns, but Ipsos has outlined one specific thread of dissatisfaction with both parties that they call “The Gaza Effect”.
During by-elections and the recent local elections we saw a wave of independent candidates running on this single issue platform, most prominently George Galloway in Rochdale, but this data shows an indication of how deep that sentiment runs.
When you compare the aggregate satisfactions levels across the year for both leaders, you can see how different ratings become for ethnically diverse communities when compared to white voters.
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For white voters, there’s next to no effect in satisfaction levels towards the two leaders post 7 October.
When you compare that data to the rating ethnically diverse community voters have given the two leaders, there is a noticeable drop in support.
For Mr Sunak the drop is only around 13 points, but for Sir Keir, it is far more significant with a huge fall of 29 points.
The scale of the impact is almost impossible to predict, and the drop in these figures won’t necessarily translate into votes or even seats – but what is clear is these figures show both parties will need to offer ethnically diverse communities much more to win their vote at the next election.
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