Jess Phillips is eating a sandwich and simultaneously applying makeup in her busy constituency office – a brief break between a visit to a local business and an afternoon of door-knocking. Her seat of Birmingham Yardley, in the south-east of the city, should be safe – she won in 2019 with a majority of 10,659. But like a handful of seats across the traditionally Labour city, it is now at risk.
“The truth is it’s a mixed picture,” she says. “There is an element of some voters hardening against the Labour party no matter what.” The issue for many is the Gaza war and Labour’s stance on it. The party delayed calling for an immediate ceasefire, and in October Keir Starmer controversially said that Israel had the right to withhold food and water from the Palestinian territory, something that comes up regularly on the doorstep.
