Labor councilor who quit amid backlash over party's position in Gaza has faded into the background as an independent

Pro-Palestine march in London Photo: Paul Grover

The Labor Party suffered a surprise defeat in an east London by-election after a local backlash over the party's position on the Gaza conflict.

Sir Keir Starmer's party lost the Plaistow North council area of ​​Newham to a former Labor councilor who quit the party in protest over his refusal to demand a ceasefire. < /p>

Sophia Naqvi, running as an independent candidate, received 1,266 votes – 46 percent of the votes cast.

Labour Party candidate Aktarul Alam received 750 votes (27 percent).

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According to the Evening Standard , Ms Naqvi said an LBC interview last month, in which Sir Keir suggested Israel had the right to deny water and energy to Gazans, was the “last straw” that convinced her to leave.

“Disgraceful comments became the last straw”

“A few weeks ago I was still a member of the Labor Party and desperately trying to persuade our mayor and councilors to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” she said.

“The Labor leader's disgraceful comments about LBC have become The last straw… like many others, I left the Labor Party and as a result the Newham Independents persuaded me to become their candidate for the Plaistow by-election.”

However, Ms Naqvi also said she was “campaigning on local issues” in the Labour-run area.

“People are tired of record council tax bills, crumbling infrastructure and the dirty state of our streets,” she said she.

Half of British Muslims are unhappy with Starmer.

Although Newham retains a large majority among Labour, Ms Naqvi's victory follows another councilor, Zuber Goolamussen, who also left the Labor Party to become an independent due to party control over the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported poll results showing that almost half of British Muslims are dissatisfied with Sir Keir's position on the Middle East conflict.

However, a Savanta poll did find that 58 percent of Muslims who took part in the survey planned to vote Labor in the next election, compared with 17 percent who chose the Conservatives and 8 percent who preferred the Liberal Democrats.