Labour must win back voters’ trust over Gaza, say Rachel Reeves and Sadiq Khan

Two of Labour’s most senior figures have admitted the party has lost the trust of some voters over its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict and will have to “engage and listen” to win them back.

Chief among Labour’s significant local election victories was its narrow win in the West Midlands mayoral contest, with its candidate Richard Parker beating the Conservative incumbent Andy Street.

During the showdown, the party condemned a racist briefing from a Labour source who reportedly said: “It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won Andy Street the mayoralty.

The London mayor managed to buck this trend, gaining the support of Green and Liberal Democrat voters in his historic third-term win.

Khan championed Starmer and the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, for being clear in their criticism of a possible Israeli incursion in Rafah.

“I regret whenever someone decides that they can’t bring themselves to vote for the Labour party, and we will seek to rebuild the trust of those communities in the weeks and months ahead.”