Labour minister breaks ranks to pan UK Government on Gaza genocide
Peter Hendy, a life peer and Labour Transport Minister, is one of the more than 60 parliamentarians from all of the major parties (except Reform UK) to sign a letter from Amnesty International calling on the UK Government to act on Gaza.
Stephen Flynn and all of the SNP's Westminster group have signed the letter, as have Labour MPs such as Andy McDonald and Nadia Whittome, Tories such as Kit Malthouse and Sayeeda Warsi, LibDems including Alistair Carmichael and Angus Macdonald, Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville-Roberts and Ben Lake, the Greens' Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, and independents including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
It comes after Labour's Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said the Government was conducting 'ongoing assessments' of the risk of genocide in Gaza.
READ MORE: UN aid chief defends using term 'genocide' in Gaza remarks to Security Council
Amnesty International and experts at the UN have concluded that genocide is taking place – but the only UK Government assessment disclosed to date – made public during the London High Court hearing last week on UK arms exports to Israel – concluded in September 2024 that there was 'no serious risk of genocide occurring'.
The parliamentarians' letter warns that the situation has deteriorated significantly since then, pointing to the new phase of Israeli assault launched in March despite a ceasefire agreement in place.
On Monday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity – said Israel would take control of all of Gaza.
The parliamentarians' letter challenges the Government to explain why, despite this worsening crisis, it has not revised its previous conclusions. It calls for the immediate release of:
The findings of all genocide risk assessments conducted since March 2025.
The criteria, methodology, and evidence used in making those assessments.
The most recent assessment date and outcome.
A clear statement on whether the UK now recognises a serious risk of genocide in Gaza.
It states: 'If these subsequent assessments have not led you to conclude that there is a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, triggering your obligation to prevent, we must ask how adequate your assessments are.'
Under the Genocide Convention, the UK has a binding duty to act to prevent genocide where there is a serious risk of it taking place. The signatories argue that the UK Government should explain how it has not assessed that threshold as having been met.
The letter also expresses alarm at the Government's position argued in the High Court, in which it defended the continued supply of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel.
READ MORE: Labour silent on UK-made weapons in Israel's renewed Gaza bombing
In its legal submission, the Labour Government argued: 'It is entirely unrealistic to suppose … any possibility of genocide would have been altered by any such curtailment on the use of F-35s.'
The letter signed by Hendy and others states: 'It appears that the position of the UK Government is that it is legitimate to provide weapons to states committing genocide if the assessment is that the impact of doing so would be minor.
'That is an abhorrent position to hold. If that is not the government's position, then you must urgently correct the record.'
The letter goes on: 'Parliament must know the nature of the government's assessments and recent assessments and their conclusions should be made public.
'It is imperative that it is explained to the House how your government has failed to recognise the serious risk of genocide based on current evidence.'
The news comes after figures from the UK Government showed that Labour had licenced the export of more military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 than the Tories had in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 combined.
The UK Government has been asked for comment.
The full list of 65 signatories to the letter:
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