Keir Starmer facing Muslim voter crisis as poll finds that over half will tactically vote to boot Labour out this Thursday – with support collapsing from 80% to just 33%

Labor is set to see a depletion of Muslim votes in local elections, a new poll has revealed.

Three in five British Muslim voters would consider backing a pro-Gaza independent to prevent Labor from winning, while almost half would consider backing Zack Polanski’s Greens if it sent a message to the Government.

New findings from the Policy Exchange think tank reveal that anti-Labour sentiment is rising among Muslims in key battleground seats, fueled by anger at the conduct of the Israel/Hamas war.

Keir Starmer sparked huge controversy after saying Israel had the ‘right’ to cut off water and power to Gaza, later insisting it wasn’t his responsibility.

His party has seen its solid support from Muslims collapse since 2019, when it won 80% of the community vote under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ahead of the 2024 General Election, the level of support was predicted to fall by 20% nationally, and even lower in some constituencies.

February’s Gorton and Denton by-election appears to have been a crucial warning to Labor in an area with a 28% Muslim population.

Under Mr Polanski’s openly pro-Palestinian leadership, the Green Party was accused of waging a cynical ‘sectarian’ campaign around the issue of the war in Gaza, but cruised to a surprise victory with a 26.4% increase.

Nearly half of Muslims in the surveyed areas were willing to support the Greens to beat Labor, while 60% said the same for independent candidates in Gaza.

The Greens currently garner 27 per cent support among Muslim voters; This rate is 10 points above the party’s average vote in the general elections.

Policy Exchange research appears to suggest that Donald Trump has failed to reverse the slide in support for what Keir Starmer calls his “pandering” towards Muslim voters – by refusing to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Policy Exchange’s survey also raises other troubling questions about the integrity of Britain’s democratic process; reveals that one-seventh of Muslims in the surveyed areas had their postal votes collected by a campaigner; the practice is made illegal in 2022, nearly twice as many voters as the general public.

The poll asked more than 1,000 British Muslim voters in Greater London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, as well as parts of Lancashire, South Yorkshire and Merseyside.

The think tank said a huge gap has widened between Muslim voters and the rest of the population, with them five times more likely than the average Briton to say their vote this Thursday will be determined by the Israel-Gaza conflict.

One in four Muslim voters say this will determine who they support at the ballot box, compared to just 5% of the rest of the population.

The survey also found that 25 per cent of British Muslims have a positive view of Hamas, compared with 28 per cent who have a negative view.

Support for the Labor Party among Muslims had already fallen to 60% by the 2024 General Election.

Muslim support for Labor reached 80% under Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 General Election.

Similarly, more British Muslims have a positive rather than a negative view of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; despite the expectation that this agency would soon be declared a terrorist organization by Britain.

One in four Muslim voters also said they believed violence could be a legitimate response to someone burning the Quran or displaying or creating an image of Muhammad; This rate is 2.5 times higher than the general public.

The think tank’s findings shed further light on views of the Jewish community among British Muslims; 45% of respondents said they believe Jews have too much power over the media, while 39% say they have too much power over Parliament.

Some 21% admitted to feeling ‘negatively’ towards Jews, compared with 11% of the wider electorate.

Lead author of Policy Exchange’s new ‘Understanding Islamopopulism’ report, Dr. Rakib Ehsan has warned that data shows Labor will be ‘punished’ by Muslim voters.

He explained: ‘Data shows Labor is on track to be further punished by British Muslims in UK local elections; Muslim independent candidates are likely to be elected in cities such as Birmingham and towns such as Blackburn and several London boroughs including Newham.

‘The new survey also reveals fundamental differences between the general population and British Muslims living in parts of the UK where integration issues remain. This is especially evident when considering how much priority Israel-Gaza is given when deciding how to vote in the upcoming local elections.

‘There are worrying levels of anti-Semitic conspiratorial beliefs and support for criminalizing blasphemy among British Muslims living in the areas surveyed. ‘The findings show that the UK is far from being a stable, multi-religious democracy.’

Reacting to the findings, Conservative Party leader Kevin Hollinrake told the Daily Mail: ‘This research is further evidence of the worrying rise of separatism and sectarianism in our society.

‘As Kemi Badenoch says, identity politics in any form is a dead end. It divides people rather than bringing them together.

‘A cohesive culture that holds together should be built on shared values, not on private grievances and group pressure.’