This was due to controversies surrounding Labour's stance on the Gaza war.

The potential loss of a Labour candidate in the West Midlands mayoralty election led to a racism row.

Despite gaining over 140 council seats, Labour's performance is concerning, particularly in the upcoming general election.

The Conservative candidate for mayor of London is running closer to the incumbent than anticipated.

Professor Rob Ford of the University of Manchester has noted that Labour is experiencing trouble on their left flank due to a loss of support in urban areas with large Muslim populations and progressive areas.

This has been offset by gains in rural areas, allowing Labour to win approximately 34% of votes at a general election compared to the Conservatives' 25%.

However, anxiety within the party is growing due to the fear of losing urban voters, including Muslims, who traditionally support Labour.

This anxiety was highlighted by unexpectedly close results in the Birmingham mayoral election, where an independent candidate, Akhmed Yakoob, received over 50% of the votes in some inner-city wards.

The polls, which had predicted a large lead for Labour's Sadiq Khan, were reportedly inaccurate.

In the local elections, Labour experienced unexpected losses in Oldham and Manchester.

In Oldham, the party lost control of the council to pro-Palestinian independent candidates.

Manchester saw Labour's deputy leader being defeated by a candidate from George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, acknowledged the need for the party to address the issues leading to losses against independent and Workers Party of Britain candidates.

Areas with a Muslim population over 20% recorded an average loss of 17.9 points for Labour.

A Labour Party source's comments about the West Midlands mayoral election have sparked a post-election row, with the source reportedly telling the BBC that "Hamas are the real villains" and implying that Muslim voters were responsible for Conservative Andy Street's win.

These remarks were condemned as racist and entitling by Labour MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Zarah Sultana.

Ribeiro-Addy stated that the comments conflated Muslim voters with Hamas and treated them as a monolith, while Sultana expressed her deep disturbance over the Islamophobic quotes given to the media by Labour sources.

Yvette Cooper, Labour's shadow home secretary, acknowledged that the party's stance on a Gaza ceasefire was a contributing factor to their surprise defeats in local elections.

Many people strongly feel about the situation in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed, mostly women and children.

Muslim vote organizers saw the elections as a message to Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Labour must work hard to regain the trust of Muslim voters ahead of a general election, as the damage has already been done.

A senior Labour source stated that local elections are used to send messages to the government and opposition.

The situation in Gaza and Israel's actions could further damage Labour's relationship with Muslim voters.

A Labour Party MP has stated that concerns about Islamophobia in the party are not limited to the Muslim community, but have also been raised by middle-class white voters during door-to-door campaigning.

The MP emphasized that the issue is serious and fatal for some people.