A LABOUR MP has said that her own party are “institutionally Islamophobic” and were “playing on racist tropes” with an attack ad on Rishi Sunak.
Zarah Sultana was speaking in an interview with Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar just two days after the majority of her colleagues voted against a ceasefire in Gaza.
Sultana– who voted for the SNP amendment – said she was surprised that more than 100 cross-party MPs voted the “correct way” but she added that she was also “heavily disappointed” that it didn’t carry.
She told Sarkar: “It's so important when war crimes are being committed in Gaza that the UK Parliament takes the correct stand.
“The demonstration outside Parliament, which was incredible, had thousands of people that evening to call on their MPs to do the right thing. I said this will be a vote we remember for the rest of our lives. And people in our constituencies aren’t going to forget."
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Sultana said that it was the “same as the Iraq War”, and also slammed her own party for calling the SNP amendment “divisive”.
When asked by Sarkar if she had experienced racism from members, she said she had not.
But Sultana then said: “I know many people who have, many people who have left the party because of the way that they were treated.”
She went on to mention the Forde report, which found serious problems of discrimination in the Labour Party, with evidence of unacceptable incidents of racism, sexism, antisemitism and islamophobia – adding that “nothing serious has been done about these issues”.
Sultana also said that a Labour whip told MPs that they may lose “7000 Muslim votes” over Keir Starmer’s position on Gaza but that was "okay" because they will still keep their seat.
She added: “The Labour Party has a problem and I would go as far as saying it is institutionally racist because this isn’t just my individual experience or the experience of members, it crosses through to the briefings that come out, the kind of language that is used, the policies that we’re willing to say are fine and acceptable.”
Labour’s much-criticised attack ad on Rishi Sunak – which claimed that the Prime Minister does not think child sex abusers should go to prison – was also condemned by Sultana who said it was “playing on racist tropes.”
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