{"id":1081496,"date":"2026-07-10T22:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1081496\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:58:20","slug":"burnham-has-apologised-over-gaza-but-in-longsight-many-feel-that-the-damage-is-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1081496\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham has apologised over Gaza – but in Longsight many feel that ‘the damage is done’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a sweltering day in Longsight. Women strolling around the market stalls are fanning themselves and sheltering from the sun under umbrellas, while the juice shops and stalls are doing a roaring trade serving people desperate for refreshment.<\/p>\n

But as temperatures climbed into the 30s, that didn’t deter one man from standing on a street corner – like he said he does every Friday – to collect donations for families affected by the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Waving a Palestinian flag and carrying a donation bucket, many people greet him and shake his hand as they walk past. This is a cause that means a lot to the Muslim community that lives here, and to ones like it across the country. That’s a fact that has been borne out by successive election results.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dissatisfied with Labour’s initial response to the conflict in Gaza that sprang from the Hamas-led October 7 terror attacks in Israel in 2023, many have voted with their feet and turned former Labour<\/a> strongholds into fertile ground for Green and independent candidates.<\/p>\n

The Longsight<\/a> ward has lost two Labour councillors to these parties since 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stockport Road in Longsight (Image: Manchester Evening News )<\/p>\n

And as Andy Burnham<\/a> prepares for an almost certain coronation as Labour party<\/a> leader and the next Prime Minister on July 20, he was asked in a social media Q&A what he ‘plans to do’ about the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know many people feel that at the start of Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza, my party didn\u2019t get it right, and I am sorry about that,\u201d Mr Burnham said in a video posted yesterday (July 9).<\/a> \u201cThe response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that there was ‘evidence that war crimes appeared to have been committed’ but said it was for the international courts ‘to determine’ whether it was a genocide.<\/p>\n

Outgoing PM Sir Keir Starmer came under fire for his remarks made shortly after October 7, when he appeared to say that Israel had \u201cthe right\u201d to cut off water and energy to Gaza, later clarifying that he meant they had the right to self-defence.<\/p>\n

During his 2015 leadership campaign, Burnham pledged that his first overseas trip would be to Israel and became a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group. But he was also one of three Labour figures to break ranks with Starmer, publicly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza barely three weeks after the conflict began. The party did not officially call for one until February 2024.<\/p>\n

In his statement yesterday Burnham also condemned the ‘increase in appalling antisemitic attacks here in the UK’ and prejudice to towards Jewish communities, but insisted there was ‘no contradiction’ between a ‘zero tolerance approach to antisemitism and holding the Netanyahu government to account’.<\/p>\n

The man in Longsight collecting donations – who did not want himself nor the charity he represents to be identified – insists he is ‘not into politics’. Nor did he have an opinion on Burnham’s statement.<\/p>\n

“I’m not here to protest, I just want to raise money to help the most unfortunate,” the 44-year-old from Chorlton<\/a> said. “Someone asked me to take part in a march – I said I wouldn’t get involved.<\/p>\n

“It’s not about promoting Labour or the Greens for me, it’s purely humanitarian. There’s people in need without food or water – I’m not doing anything that doesn’t directly help them.”<\/p>\n

But two other men he was stood with had strong opinions on Burnham’s statement. “I think it’s too late for all that, I don’t think it will change people’s minds here,” said one, who declined to give his name but said he was 32 and raised in Fallowfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A protest for a ceasefire in Gaza took place in Manchester city centre in January 2024. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

“He’s changed his opinion now he has a shot at power and wants to win people over,” he said. “It won’t be enough. I don’t vote anyway.”<\/p>\n

“I don’t believe him,” said another man, who said he had grown up in Longsight.<\/p>\n

“The votes for Greens and independent candidates in this area are protest votes, this is just Burnham saying what he thinks people want to hear.”<\/p>\n

The man, in his 40s, declined to give his name as he had a ‘unpleasant experience’ being interviewed by a YouTuber in the past. “I looked on his channel, and all it was was anti-Islam stuff about Longsight,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The call to prayer being played in Ramadan – how is that dangerous, how is it affecting your life? Anything like that, they pounce on it and put fear into it. If you want to get famous on YouTube, just talk about Islam.”<\/p>\n

But he agreed with the man raising money that marches were ineffective. “What do they achieve? What this man is doing benefits people more than a march. You get arrested for protesting against a genocide nowadays.”<\/p>\n

Over at the market, another man, who declined to give his name as he was working when he spoke to the Manchester Evening News, said he thought Burnham’s apology was ‘to cover [Labour’s] back to win back votes’.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old from Longsight said: “It’s a game to them. They want to say certain things to get votes in certain communities.<\/p>\n

“I used to be, vote Labour, regardless, and the whole community was. But I realised over time that their policies are against us.<\/p>\n

“It was the way they went about the conflict that made people vote against them. They never called it a genocide or talked about Palestinians deserving land.<\/p>\n

“They were so quick to scrutinise and sanction Putin for what he did in Ukraine. It seems they don’t want to go that way with Israel as they are allies. That’s why I voted Green this time.”<\/p>\n

But he said he couldn’t rule out the prospect of Labour gaining a foothold in the area again. “Politics is a funny game – you never know.”<\/p>\n

Another woman walking back from ASDA<\/a> with her children was doubtful that Burnham’s apology would win back voters. “It won’t change things here,” said the 49-year-old, calling it a ‘stunt’.<\/p>\n

“It’s not going to help. Labour took a big blow in Manchester – your seats are already lost.<\/p>\n

“My dad voted Labour since he came to this country in the 60s. We are all disheartened. I haven’t voted at all, and I don’t know when I will again.”<\/p>\n

But she was also sceptical of local support for the Green party. “Their candidates don’t have a clue about life around here. People voted for someone who can’t speak English.<\/p>\n

“I feel for the local Labour councillors as they do a lot of good work but it gets overlooked. People just want to get rid of Labour, I think the damage has been done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a sweltering day in Longsight. Women strolling around the market stalls are fanning themselves and sheltering from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1081497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,393,4884,19420,2465,33512,285,16,15],"class_list":["post-1081496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-andy-burnham","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-longsight","tag-manchester","tag-muslim-communities","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116898164691900387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}