by Hugo Timms, spiked
British Muslims are being exhorted to put Islamic interests first.
Even before a single ballot has been counted, Islamic sectarianism has already emerged as one of the defining stories of these English local elections. Significant proportions of Muslim voters are expected to swing towards Green or Muslim independent candidates, and away from a Labour Party that could once depend on their vote. A new report by spiked columnist Rakib Ehsan for the Policy Exchange think-tank explains why.
‘Understanding Islamopopulism’ looks at the distance between Muslim voters and the British mainstream, and what this might mean for British democracy. Policy Exchange commissioned pollsters JL Partners to survey the views of more than 1,000 British Muslims. And the results are stark. According to the polling, the most important concern for Muslim voters is not the economy, education, housing or healthcare, but Gaza. The poll also found that 63 per cent – nearly two-thirds – prioritise their Muslim identity over their British identity.
This has been something of an open secret in British politics for some time. And although the left furiously denies this is the case, the Green Party and Muslim independent candidates have made major gains by presenting themselves as the vehicles for Muslim interests. Most notoriously, in February this year, the Greens’ Hannah Spencer triumphed in the Gorton and Denton by-election on the back of an unashamedly sectarian campaign. Campaign leaflets and videos were produced in Urdu (the national language of Pakistan), warning of Reform UK’s ‘Islamophobia’ and painting the Labour government as overly supportive of Israel.