Neil Wilby Media

The present conflict between Palestine and Israel, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, continues to tear both the Labour Party and the wider Parliament apart. Particularly, in balancing the Muslim interests, almost exclusively pro-Palestinian, with their counterparts of other faiths or personal beliefs.

This is how Muslim Members of Parliament voted yesterday evening on a Scottish Nationalist Party motion calling for a ceasefire:

Voted against Gaza ceasefire
Saqib Bhatti (Cons)  
Rehman Chishti (Cons)  

No vote recorded
Rushanara Ali (Labour) 
Shabana Mahmood (Labour)  
Tulip Siddiq (Labour) 
Nusrat Ghani (Cons)

Voted for Gaza ceasefire
Tahir Ali (Labour)
Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour)
Naz Shah (Labour)
Yasmin Qureshi (Labour)
Imran Hussain (Labour)
Apsana Begum (Labour)
Rupa Huq (Labour)
Afzal Khan (Labour)
Khalid Mahmood (Labour)
Zarah Sultana (Labour)
Mohammad Yasin (Labour)
Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party)

Naz Shah, Afzal Khan and Yasmin Qureshi all quit the Labour front bench to vote for the ceasefire which railed against the Party whip and the oft-stated position of their Leader, Keir Starmer, who favours longer ‘humanitarian pauses’.

More local to this journalist’s beat, the two Oldham MPs, Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) and Debbie Abrahams Oldham East), both abstained from voting.

Their constituencies both have significant, vociferous Muslim activists, notably Glodwick in the East and Coldhurst, Medlock Vale and Werneth in the West of the Borough. Prominent activists from that faith, some of them long-term advocates of Jim McMahon, at least, are now calling for Muslim support to be withdrawn.

So far, Jim McMahon, a notably effective and popular MP, has made no public statement about the vote but Ms Abrahams, who has family who are of Jewish faith, both during a recent parliamentary debate (14th November) and by way of a follow-up written question appears to support what she describes as ‘a humanitarian ceasefire’. 

The withdrawal of the Muslim vote for Labour would also have a profound effect on the control of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council where 15 of their 32 councillors are of that faith. With or without that potentially calamitous impact, the Oldham Labour Group is expected to lose overall control of the Council at next May’s local elections, having seen their popular support spiral sharply downwards from 45 seats in 2020/21 to the present level. 

UPDATE: Just a few hours after publication of this article Debbie Abrahams published a lengthy and comprehensive statement setting out all the actions she has taken, and constituents and politicians with whom she has met and to whom she has written, in support of the humanitarian pause. What the statement does not mention is why all that did not translate into support for the SNP motion (or, more accurately, amendment).

In the 2019 general election, Mrs Abrahams held her seat entirely on the back of the Asian block vote in Glodwick where her 4,691 votes amounted to 84% of those polled. Her majority was just 1,499. She lost in 7 of the 8 other wards.

FURTHER UPDATE: An Oldham Conservative Group spokesperson has weighed in their views: “They [Jim McMahon and Debbie Abrahams] simply couldn’t be bothered to vote.

“Given the foreign and domestic issues we face as a nation, Oldham’s MP’s should be addressing these serious matters, not hiding from them.

“You are either FOR or AGAINST.

“Reasonable people expect our MP’s to make difficult decisions and tell us why. Serious politics requires a backbone.

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Thursday 16th November, 2023 at 19h25

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