UK Politics

This is what I imagine that they're concerned about:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election

You've got a left-economic vote with socially-conservative positions, especially anti-immigrant, that's pretty substantial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wall_Caucus

The Red Wall Caucus is a British political caucus and pressure group of backbench Labour MPs who represent red wall seats in the House of Commons. Led by Bassetlaw MP Jo White, the caucus was formed in November 2024 and has 43 members as of May 2025.

The Red Wall Caucus mainly focuses on opposing immigration, with the group arguing that immigration is opposed by the British people. It believes that opposing immigration is necessary to prevent the loss of red wall Labour voters to the anti-immigration right-wing populist party Reform UK, which has gained support in the region as a protest to high immigration numbers under previous Conservative governments. The group also focuses on issues which it sees as affecting Labour's traditional working class voter base in particular, such as the cost-of-living crisis, anti-social behaviour and crime, access to GPs and welfare benefits.

Personally, I think that immigration is usually a pretty strong positive for a country, but if you can't sell your policies to voters, you don't get to hold power. British political parties, including Labour, are going to have to figure out some way to handle anti-immigrant sentiment among the electorate.

EDIT: I'd add that I also think that the recent anti-pornography stuff is obnoxious too, but I imagine that the same sort of thing is driving that. They're probably going to have to have some kind of game to win more-socially-conservative voters over, or they're going to have a difficult time of it.

EDIT2: Another option: they could go beat up on transexuals instead of immigrants to try to get those presently-planning-to-go-for-Reform votes. Probably not a very appealing option for a lot of people here either.

https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/05/08/reform-uk-lgbtq-policies-local-election/

Reform UK’s LGBTQ+ policies

Reform UK’s manifesto – titled ‘Our Contract With You’ – takes aim at “‘woke’ ideology”, specifically “transgender indoctrination”.

In the opening statement, from party leader Nigel Farage, it says: “Divisive, ‘woke’ ideology has captured our public institutions. Transgender indoctrination is causing irreversible harm to children.”

In its education section, it vows to “ban transgender ideology in primary and secondary schools” in their first 100 days in government.

“No gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping. Inform parents of under 16s about their children’s life decisions. Schools must have single sex facilities,” it reads.

Later, it vows to “mandate single sex spaces”, saying: “Public toilets and changing areas must provide single sex facilities.”

It also says it will “review the online safety bill”, adding: “Social media giants that push baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory should have no role in regulating free speech.”

In February 2026, Suella Braverman said that, if voted into power, “on day one, we will get rid of the equalities department, we will scrap the equalities minister … and we will repeal the Equality Act”.

The mayor - highly popular within the party and considered to be on the soft left - voted in favour of the British invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he was MP for Leigh in Tony Blair's government.

He also joined Labour Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel group within the party, in 2015. This established him as a non-radical figure in contrast to his colleagues who were strongly pro-Palestinian, like Jeremy Corbyn.

Running unsuccessfully to be Labour leader in 2015, Burnham said his first overseas visit would be to Israel. He called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement "spiteful" and said he opposed it.

At a leadership hustings, Burnham praised Israel as a “democracy that has a long history of protecting minorities and promoting civil rights” and said that the Balfour Declaration represented “an example of British values in action”.

But Burnham also marked himself out as a critic of the Israeli government.

Less well-known than his membership of Labour Friends of Israel is that he visited the occupied West Bank in 2012 with Labour Friends of Palestine.

In March 2015 he reacted to Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection as Israeli prime minister by calling the news "depressing" in a tweet.

"Netanyahu elected on pledge to build more settlements," he said.

"Palestine will need more international support."

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-andy-burnham-stood-starmer-over-israel-and-could-now-reshape-uk-foreign-policy

There's a surprisingly large population of Israel loving voters up North in Manchester. It makes sense that he aligns himself with them. It's just politics.