Gaza’s impact on UK election indicates growing influence of Muslim vote 

One of the most notable features among the twists and turns of the UK’s 4 July General Election was the impact of ongoing events in the Middle East.

My local Member of Parliament, Jonathan Ashworth MP, lost a close vote to independent candidate Shockat Adam. Adam secured 14,739 votes, beating Ashworth’s 13,760 votes – a very slim margin, but enough to unseat a sitting MP.

And Ashworth wasn’t a small fish. He had been in office since 2011, after he replaced Peter Soulsby, the Labour Party member who had served since 2005. South Leicester was considered a safe seat for him – in 2019, he won 67 per cent of the vote.

So why did he lose to an independent candidate, and why is this vote important? One word: Gaza.

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