Independents made shock gains from Labour in Birmingham, Dewsbury, Blackburn and Leicester South
Independents have made surprise gains this general election with five pro-Gaza candidates beating Labour and running a close contest with other high-profile figures.
Iqbal Mohamed beat Labour in the West Yorkshire constituency of Dewsbury and Batley by a large margin with 15,641 votes compared to the Labour candidate Healther Iqbal with 8,707 votes.
Mohamed was formerly a Labour member but quit the party over Keir Starmer’s early stance on Israel and Palestine. He stood as a pro-Gaza candidate and in defence of local issues, on winning the seat he said, “I’m truly honoured and privileged to be given the opportunity to serve the people of my constituency.”
In Blackburn there was another shock when Labour’s Kate Hollern lost by just under 200 votes to independent Adnan Hussain. Considered an ultra safe Labour seat represented by Labour MPs for 69 years, Hussain managed to unseat Labour in the northwest town.
The Independent declared in his acceptance speech, “this is for Gaza” and told Middle East Eye in June, “Gaza is important and it’s the reason why I stood. But poverty is a massive issue too and so is healthcare.”
In a shock result of the night, shadow Cabinet Office minister Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat in Leicester South to independent Shockat Adam. After winning by just under 1,000 votes, Adam said “this is for Gaza”. He said that “this was a grass-roots, community, constituency run campaign” and said he was a “voice for the voiceless.”
An Independent candidate has also made a shock gain from Labour in Birmingham Perry Barr in the West Midlands. Ayoub Khan won with 13,303 votes, with Labour’s former MP Khalid Lahmodd in second on 12,796 votes. Khan had quit the Lib Dems in May after claiming he was told to be less vocal on Gaza.
Jeremy Corbyn won his former constituency seat as an independent in Islington North and has been outspoken about Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
Wes Streeting only narrowly managed to hold onto his seat in Ilford North where the Independent candidate Leanne Mohamad received 32.2% of the vote, to Wes Streeting’s 33.4%.
At the time of writing six independent candidates have won seats in the general election.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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