UK should recognise state of Palestine while there is still a state to recognise, MPs tell Starmer
The foreign affairs select committee said the UK's actions over the ongoing conflict and "in the years preceding, have often been too little, too late," as they called for further sanctions "against settlers".
It comes as Keir Starmer has issued his strongest condemnation yet of Israel's starvation of Gaza and hinted he is edging closer to recognising a Palestinian state,
In a new report the committee said Israel must open all crossing points to food, medical, materials for shelter and other aid to Gaza.
It also calls on the UK to act 'more boldly and bravely', including sanctions on all businesses operating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The report also warns that, despite being an ally, Israel is not listening to the UK and says pressure should be put on the US to persuade Tel Aviv.
However, the recommendation of recognising a Palestinian state pushed through by the committee's majority of Labour majority threatens to reopen deep divisions in the party again.
Labour Friends of Israel, which has powerful supporters in the cabinet including chancellor Rachel Reeves and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, has warned that recognising Palestine now is the wrong thing to do.
But Labour's main financial backers the trade unions have repeated their demands for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
Dame Emily Thornberry, a long term critic of Israel and the Labour chair of the Commons' foreign affairs committee, said immediately recognising the state of Palestine would signal the UK's desire to work urgently towards a two-state solution.
On Thursday, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Labour was "deeply committed" to recognising a Palestinian state, a pledge in the party's last general election manifesto, but he said such a move would have to be meaningful and come as part of a "genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement" with Israel.
Dame Emily also said Labour "must not shrug our shoulders in despair and say that there is nothing we can do".
She called on ministers to "immediately' extend sanctions against settlers and for the UK to play a part in evidence collection 'which will be vital to the inevitable legal reckoning when this conflict finally comes to an end".
She said that the UK "must be realistic about our role" and "our greatest power is in our alliances".
"Whether that is persuading the US to have an influence on Israel to come to a ceasefire, or with nations in the region whose support will be vital to a long-term two-state solution."
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan is among the senior Labour figures who have recently called for Palestine to be recognised.
MPs on the committee were divided over the call, but a majority backed it.
In a sign that divisions on the issue continue to plague te Labour Party, Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), repeated the demands from the party's biggest financial backers for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
He said: ''Words must be matched with action. That's why we are calling for the UK and its international partners to use every diplomatic, political, and economic tool available to help deliver an immediate and permanent ceasefire, end the illegal occupation and start a meaningful political peace process that respects the right to self-determination.
'This must include formal recognition of the State of Palestine. Not in a year's time or two years' time - but now.'
However, Labour Friends of Israel chair Jon Pearce MP warned: "Recognition is a card that can only be played once. It must be done when it will have maximum impact.
'As we saw when Ireland, Spain and Norway recognised a Palestinian state outside of any process, recognition changes nothing on the ground but does risk tearing up the Oslo Accords without a plan for security and sovereignty to replace it, whilst at the same time being seen as a reward for terrorism, inadvertently emboldening Hamas in the ceasefire negotiations."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
42 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Fact check: Recognising a Palestinian state, misleading tsunami video and deportations vs returns
Is the Government on track with its pledge to recognise a Palestinian state? On July 29, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would recognise Palestine as a state in September, ahead of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, unless Israel meets certain conditions. Labour's manifesto committed to formally recognising a Palestinian state 'as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution'. A 'two-state solution' refers to a proposed framework to resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which a sovereign Palestinian state is established alongside Israel. Previous efforts at a peace process did not result in a sovereign Palestinian state. UK governments have long been in favour of a two-state solution, as well as recognising a Palestinian state as part of a process towards that goal. All members of the G7 group of countries have pledged support for a two-state solution, as has the EU and China. Palestine is currently designated by the UN as a 'permanent observer state', a form of non-member state, meaning it cannot vote on decisions made by the UN's main organs and bodies, such as the General Assembly. However, the majority of UN member states have formally recognised Palestine. According to media reports, as of July 2025, some 147 UN member states formally recognised Palestinian statehood, not including France, which in the same month committed to recognising Palestine at the General Assembly in September. The UK is not included in this figure, although it does have a Consulate General in Jerusalem to assist British nationals in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It has been reported that a number of UK peers have questioned the legal basis for any recognition of a Palestinian state. Full Fact has contacted the Government for comment on this. How fact checkers helped set the record straight on PM's viral video When 31-year-old Abby Raworth first realised her photo and name were being shared online – falsely linked to a viral video involving the Prime Minister – she assumed it was a mix-up. Posts on social media claimed that the woman in the video was not mum-of-three Nicola but was really a 'paid actress' or 'actress and agent' named Abby Raworth. Full Fact's investigation brought to light how much was being written about her online 'without any regard for if it was correct or not.' Abby has spoken to Full Fact about her experience, telling us: 'What shocks me is how little people bothered to do regarding checks before they used someone's name and accused them of something. There is a lack of accountability for what comes out of peoples' mouths and if it had happened to any of those people they would have a different opinion on it.' We're grateful to Abby for sharing her story to help show exactly why Full Fact exists to counter the harm caused by misinformation. Old tsunami video circulates amid Pacific evacuations A video circulating online amid major evacuations across the Pacific is claimed to show a tsunami which has taken 'thousands of lives'. But this is misleading. The footage shows three people, including the person filming, narrowly escape huge waves that crash into some small boats on a shore. It was shared online following news of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia, which triggered the evacuation of almost two million people across Japan. Warnings were also put in place in other locations including Hawaii, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru and China. A caption shared with the video said: 'Massive Earthquake triggers Tsunami taking thousands of lives in seconds with little to no warning.' But this footage is not current, or related to the earthquake in Russia or the subsequent tsunami warnings. It actually showed a tsunami which occurred on the west coast of Greenland in 2017, triggered by a landslide. That tsunami did not kill 'thousands', as stated in the social media posts. Four people were killed, and nine others were injured. The same footage has been wrongly shared in the wake of other earthquakes before. Has Labour carried out 'record deportations'? Labour MP Mike Tapp recently claimed that the Government has carried out 'record deportations'. We've frequently seen MPs and ministers using the word 'deportations' when referring to all immigration returns. Not all immigration returns are 'deportations'. We don't actually know how many meet the official definition of a deportation, which the Home Office defines as 'a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person's removal from the UK is conducive to the public good'. We do know, however, that enforced returns – the category of returns which includes deportations – account for a minority (26%) of all returns carried out under Labour during its first year in office. According to ad-hoc figures published by the Home Office, during Labour's first year in office a total of 35,052 returns were recorded. We don't have the data to compare this exact period to the same period in previous years, but official immigration statistics show that this figure is not a record for the number of immigration returns over a 12-month period, going back to 2004 when this data series began. These figures show that immigration returns over a 12-month period were consistently above 40,000 between 2010 and 2016, for example. It does appear, however, that the 35,052 returns in the first year of this Labour government represents the highest 12-month figure since 2017. While we don't know how many of these returns were official 'deportations', the figures show that the 9,115 enforced returns carried out between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 also do not represent a record. While this figure is the highest number of enforced returns carried out over a 12-month period since 2018, prior to 2018 enforced returns were consistently above 10,000 over a 12-month period. MPs should use statistics transparently and with all relevant context and caveats, and quickly rectify oversights when they occur.
Powys County Times
42 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Hostage families: Releases will play ‘no part' in UK plan to recognise Palestine
Sir Keir Starmer announced earlier this week that the UK would take the step of recognising Palestine in September ahead of the UN General Assembly unless Israel meets certain conditions. Members of four British families met with Foreign Office officials on Thursday night seeking clarification on whether conditions would also be placed on Hamas, their lawyers said in a statement. 'However, it was clear from the meeting last night that the British Government's policy will not help the hostages, and could even hurt them,' they said. 'We do not say this lightly, but it was made obvious to us at the meeting that although the conditions for recognising a Palestinian state would be assessed 'in the round' in late-September, in deciding whether to go ahead with recognition, the release or otherwise of the hostages would play no part in those considerations. 'In other words, the 'vision for peace' which the UK is pursuing… may well involve our clients' family members continuing to rot in Hamas dungeons.' Sir Keir had said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire, and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months. While he also called for Hamas to immediately release all remaining Israeli hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and 'accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza', he did not explicitly say these would factor into whether recognition would go ahead. The families have a range of views on what the future political settlement should look like but their priority is to keep the hostages 'above political games,' their lawyers said. They are now urging the Prime Minister to 'change course before it is too late'. 'At a minimum, the British hostage families request that the Government confirm that without the hostages being released, there can be no peace, and that this will be an important part of its decision as to whether to proceed with recognition and its current plan.' Sir Keir said that he 'particularly' listens to hostages after criticism of his plans from Emily Damari, a British-Israeli who was held captive by Hamas. The families of Ms Damari and freed hostage Eli Sharabi were among those who met with the Foreign Office. Also present were relatives of Nadav Popplewell, who died while held captive, as well as those of Oded Lifshitz, who died, and Yocheved Lifschitz, who was released. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said that the UK will not get into a 'to and fro' with Hamas over the recognition plans and that 'we don't negotiate with terrorists, Hamas are terrorists'. US President Donald Trump disagrees with Sir Keir's plans, as well as those of France and Canada, which have also pledged their countries will recognise Palestine. 'He feels as though that's rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Leader Live
43 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Tulip Siddiq has had no ‘official confirmation' of Bangladesh trial, say lawyers
The Labour MP is due to face corruption allegations in the country on August 11, according to media reports. In April, it was reported that Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had sought an arrest warrant over allegations that Ms Siddiq illegally received a 7,200 square feet plot of land in the country's capital, Dhaka. Ms Siddiq's aunt, Sheikh Hasina, served as prime minister of Bangladesh until she was ousted in the summer of 2024, since when she has been living in exile in India. A statement released by Ms Siddiq's lawyers attacked the 'longstanding politically motivated smear campaign'. 'For nearly a year now, the Bangladesh authorities have been making false allegations against Tulip Siddiq,' the statement said. 'Ms Siddiq has not been contacted or received any official communication from the court and does not and has never owned any plot of land in Purbachal. 'This longstanding politically motivated smear campaign has included repeated briefings to the media, a refusal to respond to formal legal correspondence, and a failure to seek any meeting with or question Ms Siddiq during the recent visit by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to the United Kingdom. Such conduct is wholly incompatible with the standards of a fair, lawful, and credible investigation. 'In light of these facts, it is now time for the Chief Adviser and the ACC to end this baseless and defamatory effort to damage Ms Siddiq's reputation and obstruct her work in public service.' A source close to Ms Siddiq said that media reports published on Thursday were the first she had heard of the trial. The Hampstead and Highgate MP resigned from her ministerial job in the Treasury earlier this year following an investigation by the Prime Minister's ethics adviser into her links to Ms Hasina's regime, which was overthrown last year. She came under scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's allies. Although Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that she had not breached the Ministerial Code, he advised Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider Ms Siddiq's responsibilities. Ms Siddiq chose to resign, saying she had become 'a distraction' from the Government's agenda.
