The by-election in Rochdale is being framed by some remote observers — and one local candidate — as a referendum on Gaza.
But those living in the Manchester mill town do not see it that way. They want a greater emphasis on more “bread and butter issues”, such as the cost of living, crime and the NHS.
One voter, who took part in a focus group in Rochdale last week, put it: “There’s no point in you tackling world peace when the area you live in is a shithole.”
It is rare for a foreign issue to become so central to a British political campaign. But as soon as George Galloway, the former Labour MP, revealed he was standing for the Workers Party of Britain in opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the war in Gaza, it became clear he intended to make the by-election about a single issue.
Galloway, 69, who is running on a pro-Palestinian ticket, has been pictured speaking outside a mosque in the town as part of his campaign. He said earlier this month: “I will speak on Gaza first, then Rochdale.”
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• Rochdale by-election: everything you need to know, and the full list of candidates
The political firebrand was expected to steal pro-Palestinian votes from the Labour candidate Azhar Ali, in a move that would have exacerbated tension in the party.
However, Ali is now standing as an independent candidate. He lost Labour’s backing after being recorded making a string of antisemitic remarks, including one that Israel had allowed Hamas to attack it on October 7 as a pretext to begin an assault on Gaza.
Labour’s 10,000 majority in the late Sir Tony Lloyd’s seat is in danger of being overturned by Galloway, who is the bookies’ favourite to win the seat and last sat in parliament in 2015 as a Respect MP for Bradford West. Simon Danczuk, another former Labour MP, who now represents Richard Tice’s Reform Party, is also standing.
Despite the frontrunner seeking to make Gaza a key issue for the town’s more than 40,000 Muslims, the three focus groups held in Rochdale last week showed that voters want to see politicians talking about local problems instead.
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While some admired Galloway’s passion, others questioned why he was making Rochdale his latest campaign for parliament and queried his connections to the area.
Awareness of Ali and his antisemitic remarks was low, but almost all of those who had heard about Starmer’s decision to throw him out of the party were supportive.
Luke Tryl, a former Tory adviser who conducted the focus groups for the campaign group More in Common, said: “While the unique circumstances of this by-election — and the lack of an official Labour candidate — may well enable a Galloway victory, it was abundantly clear from the voters we spoke to from the Muslim community and beyond that they desperately wanted politicians to be focused on domestic issues that were affecting their lives.”
While among some voters there was frustration Starmer had not done enough to stand up for Palestinians, the idea of a “Gaza by-election” was met with dismay among these those who were most passionate about it.
“If even in this seat where Galloway’s presence has put the Israel-Hamas conflict centre stage there is a desire to focus political debate on domestic issues such as the cost of living and NHS it is hard to see the conflict playing a major role in shaping people’s vote in the general election,” said Tryl.
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The focus groups were made up of three distinct groups: Muslim voters (Muslim), those who voted Tory in 2019 and intended to vote Labour this time (Tory- Labour), and those who voted Labour in 2019 and intend to continue to do so (Labour-Labour).
The first question to all of the groups was: “What are the biggest issues facing the country at the moment?” This was followed by: “What are the biggest issues facing Rochdale?” In every case problems such as the NHS, cost of living, and crime were raised far more frequently and by far more people than international affairs.
Other problems raised included education and schools, immigration, and the management of the local council. After questioning, some in the Muslim and Labour-Labour groups brought up Gaza. They felt let down by politicians who are not aligning more closely with the Palestinian cause, but no one thought this should be a bigger priority than domestic problems.
“What they need to do is they need to start from the bottom up,” said Raafia, an account manager from the Muslim focus group. “Because if each constituency works in such a way where they focus on their area first and then they work their way up to looking at global issues, we’d be living in a much better world. Because there’s no point in you tackling world peace when the area you live in is a shithole. Excuse my French, but you need to sort your own home out before you point fingers at anybody else.”
Allen, a gym owner from the Labour-Labour focus group, agreed. “I think we should get our own house order before we start. If I didn’t have a roof on my house and the house was flooded, and someone knocked for charity, I’d be looking after my own house first before I give anything … The country’s burning and we need to look after that first.”
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In all groups, there was low familiarity with the details of the by-election. Few had heard of any of the candidates, let alone the controversy that has unfolded around them.
Many had heard Galloway’s name, and some knew he had been on Celebrity Big Brother (he appeared on the television show in 2006). A couple of people in each group had heard about his views on Palestine, but this was about as much as they knew without further prompting.
The first question they were asked was whether people would be interested in a candidate running on a single-issue Palestine ticket. Across the groups, the clear answer was no.
“You can’t just come into an area and just talk about Palestine and Gaza,” said Saima, a housewife from the Muslim focus group. “Obviously as much as it affects us, we’ve still got to think about the actual physical community we live in, not just what’s going on around the world … Because there can be ten million different issues there that nobody’s addressing. Just because it’s Palestine and Gaza, you can’t just jump on the bandwagon.”
Others were concerned about Galloway standing in Rochdale, when he had previously stood elsewhere in the country.
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“I don’t really like him. I don’t dislike him, to be honest,” said Samira from the Muslim focus group. “I don’t have anything against him. I think he’s been in and out politics for a number of years. He’s stood in different areas. Personally, I think a candidate who’s best suited to that sort of job should come from the area — I wouldn’t just pull somebody from London and bring them to Rochdale or Manchester.”
There was even less awareness about Ali. Some had heard about his antisemitic remarks and his expulsion from the Labour Party, but others had heard his public remarks only when he was defending Starmer for his position on Israel at the start of the campaign. This meant that there was no clear message and much confusion when participants were asked for their initial responses to the candidate.
When they were told he had been kicked out of the party, they were generally positive about what Starmer had done, even if he took longer to do it than they would have liked.
Jo, a retired nurse from the Labour-Labour focus group, said: “I think it shows that he’s standing up to his critics and being strong … Starmer has been described as a flip-flop and he’s shown that he can, if he wants to, he can be strong — and that is what we need to see as a party leader, somebody being strong and setting the ways, setting the tone of the party.”
There was a generally positive sense from the participants about Starmer’s efforts to eradicate antisemitism from the Labour Party.
Louise, a mental health worker from the Conservative-Labour focus group, said: “Well, he seems to have eradicated [antisemitism] every time it comes to light. So that’s all he can do. When it comes to light, then as long as it keeps on taking that stance, he’s sending a really strong message that it’s just not going to be tolerated.”
