Gorton and Denton by-election: Labour fear getting ‘hammered’ by Greens over Gaza focus

An estimated 28 per cent of voters in the Greater Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton, are Muslim, and 19.2 per cent are people of Pakistani heritage, with the Greens appealing to them by communicating in Urdu in some campaign literature.

Last week, Jewish Labour peer Lord Katz criticised a Green Party leaflet featuring writing in Urdu that said that his party should be “punished for Gaza”. The leaflet also featured an image of the party’s candidate, Hannah Spencer, donning a keffiyeh and standing outside a mosque.

This week, the party released videos in Urdu and Bangala featuring images of Sir Keir Starmer with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and the deputy prime minister, David Lammy, with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate for Gorton and Denton, has accused the Greens of “blatant sectarianism”.

Zack Polanski, the Green Party’s leader – who is Jewish – dismissed criticism directed at him by Labour, however.

“The Labour government object to us talking about Gaza. Genocide is serious and they should hang their heads in shame for arming it, not complaining to journalists. Not surprised they're distracting from their other failures – like addressing the cost of energy bills and rent”, he said in a post on X.

The Israeli government rejects claims of a genocide in Gaza and the British government does not endorse the claims either.

The Green Party is also facing increased scrutiny over a motion planned for their party’s spring conference next month to treat Zionism as a form of racism.

Asked about the motion yesterday by Times Radio, Polanski said he would be “listening carefully to the debate that happens,” adding: “I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to have an argument or a debate about labels.”

He also appeared to suggest in the interview that he might vote in favour of the motion: “I’ll wait to hear the debate, but absolutely, if the definition of Zionism is what is happening right now by the Israeli government, then yes, absolutely, that’s racist and I’ll vote for it.”

The motion has seen the Green Party robustly criticised by Israel’s embassy to the United Kingdom, which called on party members to reject it.

In a statement, the embassy expressed its “profound concern and utter condemnation regarding the ‘Zionism is racism’ motion currently under consideration for the Green Party’s upcoming spring conference.”

It described the motion as “so extreme, so hostile, and so intellectually bankrupt that its very inclusion on the agenda raises urgent questions about the direction of the party.”

The statement continued: “Zionism is the fundamental right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. It is not an ideology of exclusion, but one of liberation. By seeking to categorise Zionism as a form of racism, this motion attempts to revive the long discredited and hateful equation once promoted by UN Resolution 3379. That resolution was a moral stain on the international community and was decisively revoked by the UN General Assembly in 1991.”

Polanski has faced increased scrutiny over his views on Zionism after it emerged that his mother and sister both apparently hold “pro-Israel” views.

In a separate interview with broadcaster Iain Dale last week, Polanski that he was “equivocating” over the motion but wanted to “get to a place where Israelis can live together. Where there is peace in the region and where we end the current genocide”, and that he was in favour of putting increased pressure on the Israeli government to do so.

Commenting on X after the interview, Dr Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, said: “If he [Polanski] really believes in bringing people together and healing divisions, the correct answer would have been to condemn this foul and hateful motion. Instead, he dithered about whether it's OK for his party to call his mum a racist.”

Despite the Greens appeals to Muslim voters over Gaza, one Labour source claimed that voters – particularly Muslim women – were put-off by the party’s liberal stance on drugs legalisation.

“There’s a real concern about young boys and men being sucked into drugs and gangs and they don’t want that do their children and families at all”, they told the JC.

Labour’s campaign communications have sought to play into these concerns, publishing a video featuring drug use and needles featuring the caption: “The Green Party wants to legalise all drugs including heroin and crack cocaine, don’t risk their safety”.

On a visit to the Greater Manchester, Starmer also raised the issue, saying: "I have to say, as a father of a boy who's 17-and-a-half, the idea that the Green Party would make the argument that just, in a few months' time, it should be perfectly lawful to sell him heroin and crack cocaine...I find that disgusting."

The by-election in Gorton and Denton is taking place following former health minister Andrew Gwynne’s resignation from Parliament.