LABOUR notched up a string of successes in mayoral elections whose results came in over the weekend.

But it had to pledge to work to rebuild trust in Muslim communities following a sharp decline in its vote in areas with high Muslim populations — with strong votes for independents who championed the Palestinian cause as Israel’s brutal war on Gaza continues.

Labour scraped a win in the West Midlands, ousting Tory incumbent Andy Street by just 1,508 votes of over 600,000 cast — while a pro-Palestine independent, Akhmed Yakoob, came third with over 69,000.

Other Labour wins were more comfortable. Claire Ward is the first elected mayor for the East Midlands and David Skaith the first for York & North Yorkshire. Incumbents Steve Rotheram, Andy Burnham, Paul Dennett, Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard were re-elected for Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Salford, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, joining Labour’s Sadiq Khan in London, and Kim McGuiness, whose victory in the North East was announced on Friday.

It means Labour won 10 of the 11 directly elected mayor positions contested last week, the sole exception being Tory Ben Houchen in Tees Valley. It won five of them with more than half the vote in a first-past-the-post contest.

Multiple Labour winners called on Rishi Sunak to bring on a general election, with many marginal seats at play in the same areas. 

But senior Labour figures also acknowledged the problem anger among Muslims over the party’s stance on Palestine will cause it in constituencies it needs to win.

Its loss of Oldham Council to pro-Palestine independents — formerly Labour councillors themselves — was followed by the narrowest of wins in the West Midlands race.

In the region’s urban hub Birmingham, Mr Yakoob’s vote as an independent calling for Palestine solidarity reached 20 per cent, potentially putting MPs’ seats at risk if further challenges are posed at the general election.

Wes Streeting, defending a majority of just over 5,000 in Ilford North with a British-Palestinian challenger, Leanne Mohamad, intending to stand, was keen to stress that “we’ve heard” the message from “let down” voters.

Labour was “calling for a ceasefire now,” he pleaded.