Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
WORKERS PARTY ROUND UP WITH MARK BELSHAW
2026 had begun at a frenetic pace for the Workers Party, with activists intensely focused on the upcoming local elections.
The party’s strategic alliance in Oldham, where a registered joint electoral description with the Oldham Group, allowed them to stand unified candidates. With just two more councillors, the Oldham Group, led by Kamran Ghafoor, would control Oldham Council. The campaign for one of their May candidates, the popular Rangzib ‘Zeb’ Nazir, had been officially launched the prior weekend.
At that launch, Belshaw highlights a powerful speech by the party’s deputy leader, Imtiaz Ahmed. Imtiaz had defiantly embraced the ‘Gaza Party’ label mocked by the government and media, stating the party stood unapologetically for Palestine. He framed the issue as a fundamental litmus test for political morality, arguing that those who ignored "puddles of blood in Palestine" would never care about "potholes in Oldham" or failing local services like the NHS and substandard housing. Imtiaz called for a community boycott of local Labour councils, whom he accused of engineering the neglect, and urged them to "hang up their cheap suits." He positioned the Workers Party as the growing, unifying force to defeat both Labour and the rising threat of Reform, born from Labour and Tory incompetence. "The time for fear is over," Imtiaz had declared. "The time for change is now."
Belshaw added that the party leader, George Galloway, was absent from the event due to an enforced exile. This followed an incident where George and his wife, party chair Gayatri, were held at gunpoint by anti-terror police. In a pre-recorded message, George vowed not to be silenced, condemning the state's "industrialised disinformation" and defining his so-called "hostile acts" merely as speaking truth to power.
Mark Belshaw is our Workers Party prospective candidate for Cullercoats and Whitley Bay South.
If you have what it takes to represent your local community, why not put your hat in the ring as one of our prospective candidates like Mark?!
workerspartygb.org/application_may_2026
WORKERS PARTY ROUND UP WITH MARK BELSHAW
2026 had begun at a frenetic pace for the Workers Party, with activists intensely focused on the upcoming local elections.
The party’s strategic alliance in Oldham, where a registered joint electoral description with the Oldham Group, allowed them to stand unified candidates. With just two more councillors, the Oldham Group, led by Kamran Ghafoor, would control Oldham Council. The campaign for one of their May candidates, the popular Rangzib ‘Zeb’ Nazir, had been officially launched the prior weekend.
At that launch, Belshaw highlights a powerful speech by the party’s deputy leader, Imtiaz Ahmed. Imtiaz had defiantly embraced the ‘Gaza Party’ label mocked by the government and media, stating the party stood unapologetically for Palestine. He framed the issue as a fundamental litmus test for political morality, arguing that those who ignored "puddles of blood in Palestine" would never care about "potholes in Oldham" or failing local services like the NHS and substandard housing. Imtiaz called for a community boycott of local Labour councils, whom he accused of engineering the neglect, and urged them to "hang up their cheap suits." He positioned the Workers Party as the growing, unifying force to defeat both Labour and the rising threat of Reform, born from Labour and Tory incompetence. "The time for fear is over," Imtiaz had declared. "The time for change is now."
Belshaw added that the party leader, George Galloway, was absent from the event due to an enforced exile. This followed an incident where George and his wife, party chair Gayatri, were held at gunpoint by anti-terror police. In a pre-recorded message, George vowed not to be silenced, condemning the state's "industrialised disinformation" and defining his so-called "hostile acts" merely as speaking truth to power.
Mark Belshaw is our Workers Party prospective candidate for Cullercoats and Whitley Bay South.
If you have what it takes to represent your local community, why not put your hat in the ring as one of our prospective candidates like Mark?!
workerspartygb.org/application_may_2026
