Britain's Labour Party suffered significant election setbacks in areas with large Muslim populations on Friday amid discontent over its position on the war in Gaza, despite a landslide victory in the parliamentary vote.

Although Israel’s ongoing war in the besieged coastal enclave barely featured in the wider election campaign, it emerged as a key issue in a number of traditionally safe Labour seats, where independent candidates made their support for Palestinians a central feature of their campaign.

Despite Labour’s landslide win in the UK general election, the party lost several seats after a strong showing from pro-Palestinian independent candidates, in a sign of anger towards Keir Starmer over Labour’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza.