Is Burnham's Gaza apology enough to win back Labour's lost Muslim voters?

Following Andy Burnham's apology for Labour's initial response to Israel's military action in Gaza, Muslims in Bradford have said the real test for the new PM's efforts to woo them back in an area where the the issue has reshaped political loyalties for many former Labour voters has only just begun.

Burnham said in a statement at the beginning of July, just weeks before he became prime minister, that Labour "didn't get it right" over Gaza and the party needed to do better under his leadership.

He also reiterated his condemnation of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Following the attack, Israel responded by launching a massive military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,280 people have been killed, including 1,158 since the subsequent ceasefire began, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

During the early weeks of the conflict, the then prime minister Sir Keir Starmer had backed humanitarian pauses to help aid reach Gazans, but he stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Burnham was one of several high-profile Labour figures who had called for a ceasefire in Gaza by late October 2023 - which at the time put him at odds with Starmer.

In his statement, Burnham said: "Labour's initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry for that."

Walking along Leeds Road, one of Bradford's busiest commercial areas, there are still reminders in late July 2026 that Gaza remains close to many people's hearts.

While the large Palestinian flags that fluttered outside many businesses when I last visited have largely disappeared, smaller signs of solidarity remain, tucked inside shop windows.

The weekly pro-Palestinian demonstrations that once regularly brought crowds onto Bradford's streets have also seemingly become less frequent, yet the broader issue has not gone away.

In a city where the latest chapter in the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people became one of the defining political faultlines of recent years, dissatisfaction that was once expressed on the streets has also been reflected strongly at the ballot box.

Much of the political conversation in recent months has focused on Labour's losses to Reform UK, a shift that ultimately helped bring Sir Keir Starmer's premiership to an end.

Less attention has been paid, so far, to another electoral realignment that began earlier in places such as Bradford, where many Muslim and left-leaning traditional Labour voters have drifted towards independents and the Greens over Gaza.

It is against this political backdrop that I meet Adil Hussain, owner of a shopping plaza on Leeds Road in Bradford while he is having a trim at the barbers.

Asked about Burnham's apology for Labour's handling of Gaza, he says he wants to believe the new prime minister.

"I'd love for it to be true. I hope he's fixed up and this is how he wants things to be," Adil tells me.

But his hope quickly seems to give way to doubt, and he says his scepticism extends beyond just the one politician.

"You see them screaming and shouting to get the votes in, then they get the votes and they disappear," he says.

As we continue talking, Adil suggests I should speak to his wife, Jamila, who he says follows politics far more closely than he does and has been deeply engaged with the Gaza issue since the conflict began.

He phones her there and then and after he hands the phone over, she tells me: "To be honest with you, I just feel like they're all the same.

"Whoever we get as a leader, whichever political party we vote for, they all have this allegiance to Israel, whatever the government there does.

"I just don't trust the politicians. They've let us down in many ways.

"How have that many kids died, that many innocent humans, and the world sat there silent?"

It seems Burnham's apology has done little to change her overall view, although Jamila admits he offered a "refreshing" change of tone.

But she adds: "They're just words, there's never been any action."

Jamila tells me she believes the situation in Gaza has fundamentally changed how many Muslims, as well as many left-leaning and young voters, think about British politics.

"I did vote Labour, but not anymore. The whole Gaza situation has taken the lid off a lot of things," she explains.

For many people like Jamila, the question is no longer whether Labour has apologised - it is whether Labour has changed.

Over in City Park in Bradford city centre, I speak to another husband and wife, Nargis and Mohammed Kayani.

"It's easy to say sorry," Nargis says, "But it's doing something about it that matters."

She says trust cannot simply be restored by words and that many people will judge Burnham's government on the decisions it now takes, rather than any apologies.

However, Mohammed seems a little more optimistic.

He describes Burnham's apology as "a good thing moving forward".

But neither of them expresses enthusiasm for voting Labour any time soon.

Muhammed Ali Islam entered politics during the war in Gaza and was among a wave of independents who have capitalised on Labour's losses.

Aged just 21, he came within a few hundred votes of unseating Bradford West Labour MP Naz Shah at the general election in 2024.

He believes Burnham deserves credit for apologising, but stresses: "The damage has already been done."

He argues that for many younger voters, Labour's handling of the Gaza war shaped their first impression of the party.

According to him, they are not voters Labour is wooing back, instead they are voters Labour never really had.

"First impressions matter," he says.

While Burnham's apology is "a step forward", he says that he does not think it is "enough".

A week into Burnham's premiership, the Gaza issue seems to have slipped from the national political conversation - for now at least.

But in Bradford it has not, and it continues to have an impact on the political fragility of the district.

Returning to businessman Adil Hussain, he still hopes the prime minister means what he says - but remains unconvinced.

"It's not just the Muslim community we're talking about," he explains.

"In every community, people are seeing the wrong that's happening in Gaza. People are waking up.

"The golden question is, is this guy putting a front on? Part of me thinks he's just telling us what we want to hear."

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