Galloway’s by-election ambitions

THE Workers’ Party leader George Galloway (right) has reportedly vowed to fight by-election seats in London and Leicester, the Guardian reported last weekend.

Galloway, a former Labour and Respect MP, came third behind Labour and the Conservatives in the contest for the Batley and Spen seat last week.

Following his loss, however, Galloway suggested he would stand in Leicester East and Poplar and Limehouse, should there be a by-election for those seats.

Both current sitting MPs, Claudia Webbe and Apsana Begum, are currently facing criminal charges for harassment and fraud, respectively.

However, some have dismissed concerns about Galloway growing popularity at future elections.

One Labour MP told the Guardian the party was ready to face up to future challenges from the 66-year-old politician.

“You will always get chancers … and people who want to spread division. And if we want Labour to ... represent a broad church of voters, we have to be ready to take them on,” they said.

Meanwhile, following the vote, Labour campaigners warned there is “unprecedented dissatisfaction among Muslim voters” across the country.

Ali Milani of the Labour Muslim Network said the loss of a sizeable number of Muslim votes should be a cause for concern among the leadership.

“Batley and Spen should have been won by Labour easily,” Milani said. “There are seats in places like London, Bradford and Sheffield with significant Muslim populations which are going to make Batley and Spen look like a picnic if we lose any more ground on this. This is the moment the alarm bells have gone off. We need to act now.”

Mustafa Al-Dabbagh, a spokesperson for the Muslim Association of Britain, said Muslims do feel like they are not being taken seriously by the leadership in the Labour party. “There seems to be an attitude that Muslims have always voted Labour, so they’re always going to,” he said.

While Poplar and Limehouse has a Muslim population of 33.6 per cent, as per the 2011 census, Leicester East is said to have a large number of Hindu residents, alongside those of Muslim and Sikh faiths.