Labour ‘let the people of Rochdale down’, says Burnham
ANDY Burnham has said that Labour ‘let the people of Rochdale down’ after George Galloway won the by-election to become the town’s MP.
The Greater Manchester mayor has said he will work with party leader Sir Keir Starmer to ‘regain the trust’ of Rochdale’s residents.
It comes after Labour ditched its candidate Azhar Ali after ‘deeply offensive’ comments he made about Israel last year emerged. Mr Ali, who apologised for the comments, remained on the ballot, but without the party’s backing; he only won 2,402 votes and came fourth.
Mr Galloway secured nearly 40 per cent of the vote, overturning a Labour majority of around 10,000 at the last general election. The Workers Party of Britain leader said his comfortable victory will send a message to Sir Keir about the party’s stance on the war in Gaza.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Mr Galloway’s victory marked ‘a dark day’ for the UK’S Jewish community. The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism raised concerns about his return to Parliament, given his ‘inflammatory rhetoric.’
Reflecting on the result, Mr
Burnham said Greater Manchester will ‘stand up’ to anybody who seeks to bring ‘division’ and ‘hate.’
He said: “Labour has let the people of Rochdale down because it didn’t give them a good enough choice at the election.
“It’s right that the leader of the party has apologised to the people of Rochdale but we will now work with him and his team to make sure there is some reflection on what has happened, some honesty, so that we can all come together and work together to regain the trust of the people of Rochdale, and that is exactly what we will do working with the leader of Rochdale Borough Council.
“We pride ourselves on being a city region of diversity, of solidarity. We have a large Muslim community, but the biggest Jewish community outside of London, and the leaders of both of those communities work together, and we pride ourselves on the cohesion between the different communities in Greater Manchester.
“We will work with anybody who seeks to promote that cohesion, but we will stand up to anybody who seeks to bring division or hate to our city region.”
After winning, Mr Galloway thanked voters who backed him at the by-election, but promised to ‘work faithfully’ for all Rochdalians.