Miliband pushing to recognise Palestinian state
The Energy Secretary has joined the ranks with several MPs who are placing pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to take the step as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister will today convene an urgent Cabinet meeting on Gaza and later this week unveil his plan for formally recognising Palestinian statehood.
Sir Keir's move to officially recognise the country comes after Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he would do so in September.
Behind the scenes, Cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister; Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary; and Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, are putting pressure on Sir Keir to take the step.
Mr Miliband is also supportive of the move, and voted in favour of Palestinian statehood when he was the leader of Labour in 2014.
An emergency meeting
A third of Sir Keir's Cabinets want the UK to take swift action to recognise Palestine as a state, according to The Times.
Pressure from the Cabinet comes ahead of the Prime Minister unveiling his most detailed plan to date for formally recognising Palestine as a state later this week.
But it is expected that the recognition of statehood will still be conditional on the delivery of a ceasefire and potentially the release of remaining Israeli hostages by Hamas.
Ministers will meet for a rare emergency Cabinet meeting on Tuesday afternoon, in the middle of summer parliamentary recess, to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Mr Miliband voted in favour of recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel in a Commons vote in 2014, while he was Labour leader, as did Ms Nandy.
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, also voted for the motion over a decade ago.
On Friday, 135 Labour MPs signed a letter calling for the 'immediate recognition' of Palestinian statehood, while Labour mayors and the party's Scottish leadership are also piling on the pressure.
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