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Big wins for pro-Gaza bloc in UK election amid Labour landslide

Big wins for pro-Gaza bloc in UK election while Labour achieve landslide victory
World
18 min read
The war on Gaza has been the primary focus in this UK general election as five pro-Palestinian independents were elected as MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn.

In an unprecedented electoral breakthrough, five pro-Gaza independents won seats in the UK parliament following Thursday night's general election.

This included former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who won re-election to parliament on Friday as an independent candidate.

Corbyn, 75, who has represented the London constituency of Islington North for more than 40 years, won the seat comfortably -- but for the first time without Labour affiliation.

Jonathan Ashworth, who had been expected to serve in Keir Starmer's Labour government, lost his seat to independent candidate Shockat Adam.

However, veteran left-wing political maverick George Galloway was also beaten. He had only won his Rochdale seat for the Workers Party of Britain in March after Labour pulled support for its candidate, running on a pro-Palestinian agenda.

In areas with large concentrations of Muslim voters many of those independents have been running on a pro-Palestinian platform.

The most likely to have felt the effect of unhappiness among Muslim voters is Keir Starmer's Labour Party, despite winning the election, but has long counted on the backing of Muslim and other minority groups.

Starmer's Labour has faced criticism for only gradually shifting towards calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Labour has committed to recognising a Palestinian state but has not set out a definitive timetable for doing so.

We will give you all the updates from the UK election as they come in and other news from the MENA region.