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Potholes, council tax or even trust in politicians
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Or could it be that conflict in the Middle East now involving Iran
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will shape how some people cast their vote here in Britain? Labour narrowly avoided a hat-trick of high-profile defeats
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at the hands of Gaza independents in the last general election. Leadership hopefuls Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood
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felt Gaza becoming a major political fault line in some UK constituencies
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And there's a growing question over whether events overseas are now influencing politics much closer to home
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This is the Birmingham Yardley constituency of Minister Jess Phillips. And at the 2024 general election, she narrowly held this seat by around 1,000 votes
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I therefore do hereby declare that Phillips, Jessica Rose, known as Jess Phillips
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is duly elected as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yali constituency
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The chants you heard there were for Jodie McIntyre, who fought for the seat largely on a pro-Gaza ticket
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So with the local elections just around the corner, we've come back to see whether Iran is shaping the way
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that people will cast their votes in the local elections. I would say a lot of people are going with their gut and their heart
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and getting emotional, using their emotions to then decide which party they should decide
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Politics has no part in that. Emotions have no part in politics. I think we need to sit back and see how it will help the community
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and the country as a whole. Would conflict in the Middle East and Iran say be something that would concern you as you cast your vote Absolutely when I not looking after my children I a teacher and a lot of my students come from all over the world
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so these are issues that are really important for them and by proxy important for me so
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people stance on immigration, refugees, around conflicts around the world would absolutely be
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something that would change how I vote for them or not. Very much so because I had aspirations to
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work abroad actually. I'm a teacher so I used to work in the Middle East and then I came back to
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the UK and I do have intentions to sort of go back out there and it is quite frightening especially
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now with the UK support to America and what's happening right now it's quite scary. So to find
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out if we've ever seen anything quite like this impacting on local elections before I've come here
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to the University of Birmingham to meet Dr Matthew Francis who's an expert in political history
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These international events aren't ever just international events. They have an impact on things like the cost of living
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They have an impact on energy prices. And those feed through into voter satisfaction, voter behaviour at all levels of politics
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This is being characterised by some on the political spectrum as sort of sectarian voting, as it were
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Is that something that is sort of the correct terminology? I don't think that's a kind of helpful way of thinking about it
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I mean, one of the stories that we saw around kind of the last election was kind of particular populations in parts of Birmingham being perceived to vote in certain ways as a result of what was happening in Gaza
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There is obviously a degree to which for Muslim voters in Birmingham, for example, that does feed through as a concern
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But, you know, if you walk through other areas of the city, you go to places like Kings Heath, like Sturtsley, you can see those international events kind of have are of a concern
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and the Labour government's current stance on them is of concern to a far wider kind of variety of
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voters than that and I think it massively oversimplistic and kind of stereotyping to to say that those issues only affect or are only of concern off to a particular segment of the population The reality is much messier than that Historically the Midlands carry some of Britain deepest memories of war
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Coventry still lives with the scars of the Blitz. Cannock Chase is home to a memorial to German soldiers killed in two world wars
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And in Staffordshire, the National Memorial Arboretum has become one of the country's central places of remembrance
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But comparing our defence here in the UK some 80 years on from the end of the Second World War
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and things are very different, including international relations. I was very surprised with the United Kingdom, because the United Kingdom, two weeks ago
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I said, why don't you send some ships over? And he really didn't want to do it
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I said, you don't want to do it. We've been with you. You're our oldest ally
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and we spend a lot of money on NATO and all of these things to protect you
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I don't need them after the war has ended and won. I need it before the war
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So I was very upset with, not upset, I was not happy
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With the conflict in Iran still on the minds of lots of people as we approach these local elections
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I'm heading to Leicester now to meet a man who knows only all too well
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how significant wars around the world can be when people come to cast their vote
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This is the Leicester South constituency, formerly home to Jonathan Ashworth, the Labour long-timer
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And in the 2024 general election, he lost his seat by less than a thousand votes
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This is for the people of Gaza. The man claiming victory in Leicester South was independent pro-Palestine candidate Shokat Adam
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I've come to meet him in his constituency office to find out if we can expect to see a rerun of the general election in these local elections As we go to these elections do you think people are angry about the state of international affairs
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They're angry about what the government is or isn't doing in Gaza and in Iran
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I think people are angry about the general state of politics. When I knock on people's doors, sometimes there's not even anger
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they're just completely disenfranchised with the whole political system and they just want to vote for something different
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because they've given their votes, they've given their trust to people of the conventional parties
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and they've not been repaid back and people are just fed up. Do you think this should be a wake-up call
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Absolutely. I think the election in 24 was a wake-up call. But unfortunately, two years nearly down the line, it doesn't seem to have woken anybody up
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And I think the constituents and the electorate are going to let the main parties know even louder this time
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There will be concerns about domestic issues and I can tell you potholes is going to be a huge whale up there
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because that's what people care about. or their bins being collected, people care about that
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and these are local council issues. They understand that, but now they've got a choice
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with somebody who will address that as well as their heart about international matters
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Why do you think people do pigeonhole people in that way, talking about conflict in the Middle East
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being the only thing that people have come out to vote for? That's a really interesting question
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It probably needs a real New Orleans answer, but it fits the stereotype
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It fits the us and them divide. You know, I have been elected, I have spoken over 200 and whatever times in Parliament from topics ranging from the cost of living crisis to ensuring that our cathedrals and churches are not paying VAT on repair work
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Why shouldn't I care about these things? You know, as somebody from a particular faith, the Muslim community cares about the cost of living crisis and the National Health Service education
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But yet it's much easier to divide, to cause polarisation because it sells stories basically
