Muslim voters say unhappiness with Labour leader means they will place votes elsewhere for first time
When Keir Starmer shifted Labour’s position on Kashmir in the first weeks of his leadership last year, he may not have realised that his stated intention of preventing “issues of the subcontinent to divide communities here” could cost the support of some of its most loyal voters.
Canvassing outside Jamia Masjid in Heckmondwike on Friday, the Labour candidate in the Batley and Spen byelection, Kim Leadbeater, received a hostile reception from voters who are unhappy with the party’s stance on foreign policy issues such as Palestine and Kashmir, amid a perception that the party takes some forms of racism more seriously than others.
