Buried by a Landslide: The ‘South Asian Vote’ in London, Residential Suburbanisation and the Geopolitical Shift in the 2024 General Election

This article unpacks the construct of the (South) ‘Asian vote’, concentrating on London. There is an inherited stereotype of the South Asian vote as loyally Labour that stems from broader considerations of minority electorates in inner-city London. Generalised associations of Asians with passivity/docility and religion in onscreen popular cultural representations, for example, were simplifications that papered over complexities, including past Asian political activism and differences between communities. It is argued that while the 2024 general election was a Labour landslide producing the most diverse ever House of Commons, with eighty-seven black, Asian and minority ethnic MPs, it also signalled a decisive break from two-party politics, with the Green Party and Reform UK, as well as a new breed of independents, all winning seats. In London, the movement of significant South Asian populations towards the suburbs reveals dramatic changes in South Asian voting patterns, likely to shape British politics for the foreseeable future. The article concludes that the bloc term ‘Asian’, always shorthand for communities diverse in religion, nation of origin and generation, is becoming more and more meaningless politically, and is certainly something that no party, especially in London, should ever take for granted. The Gorton and Denton by-election of February 2026, which saw a safe Labour seat with a substantial Asian-Muslim population won by the Green Party in a campaign where Gaza featured, demonstrates that voter volatility is alive and well nationwide.