People of Rochdale concerned about the NHS, education, policing and cost of living......

[mids2019]

However their new MP says this for Gaza'.

How can our politics becomes so skewed that voters are not thinking about the multiple issues on the domestic front which effect their daily lives where an MP can have direct influence?

Our MPs represent our people to advocate for them on areas where they are in a position to influence. To elect an MP based on a single foreign policy issue where there was limited UK influence just seems like a wasted vote.

There will be an election in the next 12 months. If any MP spends all their time focusing on Gaza or Ukraine or anywhere else, rather than grannies dying of cold or babies dying in maternity units in their own constituency, they will very soon find themselves out of a job.

Starmer is to blame for this dogs dinner - makes him look weak and pathetic and it will be interesting to see what spin Labour puts on this result.

Galloway will likely lose at the general election.

I read an article where they were interviewing people and a few said Gaza was very important to them but they still have to live in Rochdale and would really like someone to actually mention Rochdale. I’ll link it of I can find it (I can’t remember where I read it atm).

I’m not sure that UK politicians have any influence over Netanyahu, if he’s happily telling the Americans to fuck off then I’m not sure that he’s waiting with bated breath to hear what Galloway has to say.

Agree with all the above.

At the end of the day George Galloway is going to sit down with constituents to discuss bin collection issues, closing of local leisure centres, lack of social care etc. In surgeries so hopefully he can dedicate his time to what he is now being paid for i.e. being a constituent MP.

If someone has an issue with local planning permission or a school not providing adequate SEND provision then 'but Gaza' isn't going to cut it.......

Which bit of this "shit show" is Starmer responsible for exactly?

@Westfacing can you explain why Starmer is to blame for the situation?

@Westfacing

So Starmer took clear action and a clear position over anti semitic comments by the Labour candidate.

Meanwhile Sunak failed to take clear action or a clear position over Islamophobic comments by a Conservative MP.

In what way is Starmer to blame?

I live in Rochdale but my mp is Chris Clarkson (conservative) thankfully. Galloway only campaigned in high Muslim populated areas and from what I understand only on this issue. The areas of Rochdale that aren't highly Muslim and are included in the boundary are mostly incredibly poor with low education rates and notoriously poor voter turn out.

I am quite upset that Galoway has got in as like you said he doesnt care about the town or any other issue.

I hope Tully runs again and gets in at the GE.

I wouldn't read too much in to this. It is a by election not a general election. This is less of a vote for Galloway and more of a vote against the current big parties. I know this kind of result is unusual in British politics but very common in other countries that have proportional representation and a lot of independents get through on single issues often unique to a particular area. Independents (unless they are needed by one party to make a majority) have very little influence in parliament. Possibly the voters knew this but felt they'd use their vote to demonstrate their anger with the current British governments stance on the conflict. Those who aren't happy with the marches surely would agree the ballot box is a legitimate space to protest.
Just in case anyone thinks differently I cannot stand Galloway and was surprised to see him crawl out from under his rock again

I was happy to see Galloway elected. It is a basic qualification to be an MP to not support the genocide of anyone of any ethnicity or religion. I would no more vote for a NeoNazi than I would for any MP cut from the same cloth as Starmer or Sunak.

I could not vote for an MP complicit in genocide even if they promised, hand on heart, to fight for public services.

MPs represent the people of the U.K. on matters both domestic and foreign. Look at the mess current MPs have made on both fronts. So I disagree that it doesn’t matter what their thoughts are on foreign events.

This is less of a vote for Galloway and more of a vote against the current big parties.

Well it's a vote against Tory but Labour didn't have a candidate standing.

It's clearly not a vote against any antisemitic comments the previous labour candidate may have said, given who won.

Because Starmer/Labour are always to blame for everything.

Stagnant economy, poverty, food banks, crumbling public services, trans, Gaza, Ukraine, Brexit, even after 14 years of Tory government, nothing is their fault, everything is on Labour.

💯%.

Reform did okay too. It's a protest vote. Good for them.

He and his team campaigned heavily in the Deeplish and Milkstone Rd areas and pretty much ignored everywhere else. He had one issue to campaign with - Gaza - and one set of voters targeted. I have family there who are all Labour voters who didn't vote, they said they were "waiting for the proper election". A family member was involved with the count, and said that Galloway hadn't even turned up by 3am.

He and his team campaigned heavily in the Deeplish and Milkstone Rd areas and pretty much ignored everywhere else
All politicians do this, nothing new with that. They campaign heavily in the areas they know are likely to vote for them and the areas that generally have good voter turn out.

There's also reports of his team handing out fliers outside polling stations. Although i think the outcome wouldn't be changed if this hadn't happened.

Rochdale ward doesn't represent the whole of Rochdale. Norden, Bamford and Castleton all come under Heywood and Middleton but geographically are definitely Rochdale. I don't like the idea GG being perceived as speaking on my behalf, he doesn't as he isn't my mp and my views are vastly different. I would guess that if the wards were as they used to be previously (they changed the ward boundaries about 15 years ago i think but could very well be wrong with my time estimate) Tully would have won.

I can't imagine GG holding regular surgeries in person in the town and taking on board other issues.

I'm glad we have councillors and I hope he gets moved on at the next GE.

Local Facebook groups are quite amusing with their comments. It can't be said that residents don't have a sense of humour.

It's hardly surprising. The Tories were never going to do well, Labour didn't have a candidate.

On the one hand, lots of people are (rightfully) up in arms over Tory Islamophobia. On the other hand, lots of people are either indifferent about or glad George Galloway has been elected. It's as though some forms of racism are seen as abhorrent and others as perfectly acceptable.

Just like how Blair and Brown spent 14 years blaming everything on Thatcher and the Tories then, isn't it??

Although in many contexts it seems like islamaphobia is ignored but anything close to antisemitism (even if it's just condemning the Israeli government) is a huge issue.

Both Islamophobia and Anti-semitism should be condemned. There is a widespread feeling though that people, including people in positions of authority such as politicians, actually don't care about Islamophobia.

Who else can I blame for Labour having no candidate?

It's really disappointing that a critical mass of Rochdale voters couldn't have got behind David Tully or the Lib Dem's. Galloway had a big percentage majority but the turnout was only 40%. If people had banded together properly then could have stopped Galloway, who is a properly nasty piece of work.