Labour failed to connect with Muslim women in Bradford, says Yvette Cooper:
Shadow home secretary says local factors in Bradford West were key to George Galloway's surprise byelection victory
A senior Labour figure has blamed the party's failure to connect with young Asian voters and Muslim women for the loss of the previously safe Bradford West seat in a byelection last week.
The Respect party candidate, George Galloway, won the Bradford West seat in the early hours of Friday morning with a majority of more than 10,000 votes – turning over a Labour majority of more than 5,000 at the 2010 general election.
The result, in which the Conservatives came third and the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit because they won so few votes, appeared take the major parties by surprise.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme on Sunday, Labour's shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said "local factors" had been significant in the byelection and warned against generalising about Labour's relationship with the Asian community. But Cooper said the party had "lessons to learn".
"I think it is the case that Labour wasn't connecting enough with young voters in Bradford's Asian community," she said. "My sense, too, is that we weren't connecting enough with Muslim women in Bradford."
Galloway, a vocal opponent of the Iraq war who has called for the immediate withdrawal of UK troops from Afghanistan, has rejected a narrow view of his victory, pointing out that Labour's candidate, Imran Hussain, is a Muslim of Pakistani origin.
Meanwhile, a former Labour spin doctor said the party had lost what he claimed was the first "social media" byelection by relying on the "old fashioned" tactic of knocking on doors to meet and persuade voters.
The Labour MP Michael Dugher, a former press spokesman for Gordon Brown when he was prime minister, pointed to Galloway's success in using social media such as Facebook, where he had 83,000 supporters.
"I think this was the first byelection in history fought and even won on social media," Dugher told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme. "Our candidate was knocking on doors the old fashioned way."
Two new national polls published on Sunday provided better results for Labour. A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put Labour on 42%, up two on last week; the Conservatives on 33%, down two from last week; the Liberal Democrats down one at 8%; and other parties on 17%. A separate poll by ComRes for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror found almost three-quarters – 72% – said the coalition was "out of touch with ordinary people".
Four out of five of those questioned said that ministers had caused an unnecessary panic over the threat of a strike by tanker drivers. The ComRes poll found 71% believed the chancellor, George Osborne, had been wrong to extend VAT to hot pies and pasties while 64% disagreed with the so-called "granny tax" – scrapping age related allowances for the over-65s.
A senior Labour figure has blamed the party's failure to connect with young Asian voters and Muslim women for the loss of the previously safe Bradford West seat in a byelection last week.
The Respect party candidate, George Galloway, won the Bradford West seat in the early hours of Friday morning with a majority of more than 10,000 votes – turning over a Labour majority of more than 5,000 at the 2010 general election.
The result, in which the Conservatives came third and the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit because they won so few votes, appeared take the major parties by surprise.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme on Sunday, Labour's shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said "local factors" had been significant in the byelection and warned against generalising about Labour's relationship with the Asian community. But Cooper said the party had "lessons to learn".
"I think it is the case that Labour wasn't connecting enough with young voters in Bradford's Asian community," she said. "My sense, too, is that we weren't connecting enough with Muslim women in Bradford."
Galloway, a vocal opponent of the Iraq war who has called for the immediate withdrawal of UK troops from Afghanistan, has rejected a narrow view of his victory, pointing out that Labour's candidate, Imran Hussain, is a Muslim of Pakistani origin.
Meanwhile, a former Labour spin doctor said the party had lost what he claimed was the first "social media" byelection by relying on the "old fashioned" tactic of knocking on doors to meet and persuade voters.
The Labour MP Michael Dugher, a former press spokesman for Gordon Brown when he was prime minister, pointed to Galloway's success in using social media such as Facebook, where he had 83,000 supporters.
"I think this was the first byelection in history fought and even won on social media," Dugher told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme. "Our candidate was knocking on doors the old fashioned way."
Two new national polls published on Sunday provided better results for Labour. A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put Labour on 42%, up two on last week; the Conservatives on 33%, down two from last week; the Liberal Democrats down one at 8%; and other parties on 17%. A separate poll by ComRes for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror found almost three-quarters – 72% – said the coalition was "out of touch with ordinary people".
Four out of five of those questioned said that ministers had caused an unnecessary panic over the threat of a strike by tanker drivers. The ComRes poll found 71% believed the chancellor, George Osborne, had been wrong to extend VAT to hot pies and pasties while 64% disagreed with the so-called "granny tax" – scrapping age related allowances for the over-65s.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Comments