Police did not protect MP during election, Labour report says

Police failed to intervene when the family of the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and her supporters faced intimidation during this year's general election campaign, Labour has told the elections watchdog.

- Rajeev Syal

In a document seen by the Guardian, party officials said officers from West Midlands police abandoned the count on polling day before Mahmood, a close ally of Keir Starmer, and members of her family were barracked by political opponents in the seat of Birmingham Ladywood.

The alleged incidents happened amid a tense campaign against the independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, a solicitor and admirer of the notorious social media personality Andrew Tate, who campaigned primarily against Labour's policies on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Officers declined on three occasions to intervene after intimidation of Mahmood's canvassers by supporters of Yakoob, the submission to the Electoral Commission said.

It is also claimed that a Labour canvasser, who was a black woman, was told by a Yakoob supporter she should not be in a mainly Asian area because the residents were "not her people".

The document, written by Labour officials in Mahmood's constituency, paints a picture of seven tense confrontations with political opponents in the central Birmingham constituency in the weeks leading up to 4 July, particularly in areas dominated by communities of Pakistani and Kashmiri descent.

It comes as a report from the Electoral Commission released today found that more than half of candidates (55%) in the general election and the May local elections said they were abused or intimidated during the campaign, with women and ethnic minorities particularly targeted.