Socialist Carol Williams takes 20 percent in Birmingham by-election

On the campaign trail for Carol Williams (Photo: Carol4Moseley)

Carol Williams won nearly 20 percent of the vote in a council by-election in Moseley, Birmingham, on Thursday.

The Lib Dems took the seat from Labour with 1,634 votes, even though their share of the vote actually dropped by 12 percent. Labour was pushed into second place with 1,149 votes, with its share of the vote dropping by 14 percent.

Carol, a Socialist Workers Party member, came third with 923 votes. Reform UK came fifth, behind the Greens, with just 7 percent of the vote. The Tories won just 2.4 percent.

Carol told Socialist Worker, “The ward is 52 percent black and brown people—predominantly Muslim. The Muslim community has broken with Labour.

“When the genocide in Gaza began, lots of Muslim people were saying it was the final straw. They felt let down by Labour on many issues—now there is hatred towards Labour.

“Our election operation was run by Salma Yaqoob. She has a strong network going back to when she was a Respect councillor in Birmingham.

“The campaign also showed people supported me because of the protests I have been involved in. I got support from the Palestine campaign, disability rights activists and from the striking bin workers.

“The bin workers produced a leaflet outlining whether all the candidates supported their strike. I was the only serious candidate who did.” Carol said that the strikers “put two or three of these leaflets through every door in the ward”.

“On the doorstep people recognised that we need to start pushing back against the attacks we are facing and that an elected councillor can champion communities organising for change,” she said. 

Carol added that “there was a lot of anger over Robert Jenrick’s comments about Birmingham being a slum” and Labour wanting to overturn the ban on the  Maccabi Tel Aviv football club fans. 

“I met a few voters who were going to vote Lib Dem until they heard Ed Davey say that banning Maccabi was antisemitic. People were really fed up about that.

“I stood as an open Your Party supporter. The Green party stood a paper candidate. They didn’t bother campaigning. If they hadn’t stood, I might have beaten Labour.

“Now we are beginning to focus on the elections next May. There are loads of positives from this campaign and loads of lessons to learn.”

Unite the union, which represents the Birmingham bin strikers, said, “Like Caerphilly, the Moseley by-election shows the party needs to be on the side of workers if it is not be eclipsed at the polls.

“When Birmingham voters see Labour take £8,000 a year from bin workers and let rubbish pile up in the city they turn away. Labour must change now or lose in the city in ’26.”

The Lib Dems are celebrating their success. But their vote actually fell—they only won because the Labour and Tory vote collapsed. The result shows that if Your Party got organised, it could make a huge impact.