Muslim Labour vote split over Starmer

NEARLY half of UK Muslims are unhappy with Keir Starmer’s handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict, new polling suggests.

However most are still likely to vote for the party at the next election, while Rishi Sunak’s response to the crisis proved even less popular.

Some 89 per cent of Muslim voters responding to the Savanta poll, between Oct 27 and Nov 3, said the conflict mattered personally to them.

Asked for their take on Sir Keir’s approach, 45 per cent said they were dissatisfied; just 19 per cent felt the opposite, culminating in a net satisfaction rating of -26 per cent.

But the Prime Minister’s response appears to have gone down even worse. Some 69 per cent said they were unhappy with his handling of the conflict, while only 13 per cent said they were satisfied, putting his net rating at -56 per cent.

Some 41 per cent of Muslims also said Sir Keir’s reaction had caused them to feel more negatively about the Labour Party.

The Opposition leader has been fighting to contain a rebellion over his refusal to call for a ceasefire, which intensified after frontbencher Imran Hussain quit on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, in the most serious challenge to his authority yet, more than a dozen backbench MPs tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech that called for a truce.

Party insiders warned there were up to 12 shadow ministers who were “hanging on by their fingernails” and would resign if necessary to vote for the motion.

Despite clear reservations about Sir Keir’s response, 58 per cent of Muslims responding to the survey said they would vote Labour at the next election, compared to 17 per cent who picked the Tories and 8 per cent who preferred the Lib Dems.

Savanta said it had done its best to weight the data to be representative of the UK Muslim population.

But it stressed this would not be perfect, as the survey was carried out online and in English – potentially missing those who may be compromised by the language barrier or a lack of digital access.