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Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
UK party threatens to ‘force vote' on recognizing Palestinian state
A minor opposition party in the British parliament on Sunday threatened to bring forward legislation on recognizing Palestinian statehood and 'force a vote' if Prime Minister Keir Starmer continues to oppose the mov e. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which pushes for the independence of Scotland, said it would table a 'Palestine Recognition Bill' when parliament returns after its summer recess if Starmer did not change his position. The prime minister has committed to recognizing Palestinian statehood but said it must be part of a peace process in the Middle East. The SNP threat comes after more than 220 British MPs, including dozens from Starmer's ruling Labour party, demanded Friday that the UK government follow France and recognize a Palestinian state. The call, in a letter signed by lawmakers from nine UK political parties, came less than 24 hours after French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country would formally do so at a UN meeting in September. 'Unless Keir Starmer stops blocking UK recognition of Palestine, the SNP will introduce a Palestine Recognition Bill when Parliament returns in September and force a vote if necessary,' said Stephen Flynn, SNP's leader in the UK parliament. 'Keir Starmer must stop defending the indefensible, finally find a backbone and demand that Israel ends its war now,' he added. If France formally recognizes a Palestinian state it would be the first G7 country -- and the most powerful European nation to date -- to make the move. Starmer has come under rising domestic and international pressure over recognizing Palestinian statehood, as opposition intensifies to the ongoing war in Gaza amid fears of mass starvation there. The UK leader on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to airdrop aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said. The SNP holds nine seats in the 650-seat UK parliament.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
SNP threaten to force Palestine recognition vote as PM faces pressure over Gaza
The SNP has threatened to 'force a vote' and bring forward legislation for the UK to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a bid to heap further pressure on Sir Keir Starmer as he resists calls to do so. Stephen Flynn, the party's Westminster leader, said he would table a ' Palestine Recognition Bill' in the Commons when Parliament returns from recess unless the Prime Minister changes his position. It comes after 221 MPs – the majority Labour, along with Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and Independents – signed a letter calling on the Government to take the step. Sir Keir has faced mounting pressure after French President Emmanuel Macron announced France would formally recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, amid global anger at starvation in Gaza. The SNP said it would table the Bill to coincide with the gathering of world leaders, and Mr Flynn said the Government could not 'stand idly by in the face of what is happening'. The Prime Minister has committed to recognising Palestinian statehood but said it must be part of a peace process in the Middle East. 'Unless Keir Starmer stops blocking UK recognition of Palestine, the SNP will introduce a Palestine Recognition Bill when Parliament returns in September and force a vote if necessary,' Mr Flynn said. He added: 'Keir Starmer must stop defending the indefensible, finally find a backbone and demand that Israel ends its war now.' Close attention will be paid to how any potential vote plays out, after the Commons descended into chaos last February when the SNP used one of its Opposition Day Debates to press for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Labour, then the official opposition, responded by tabling an amendment to the motion with different wording, and the then-Tory government put forward a separate one calling for an 'immediate humanitarian pause'. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle came under fire at the time for breaking with convention to select both the Labour and Government, which he said was to give MPs the 'widest range' of options to consider. The SNP said they were being denied an opportunity to have a vote on their motion, which was originally meant to be the focus of the debate, and the Speaker later apologised.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Over 220 MPs Sign Letter for Palestine Statehood
More than a third of MPs have signed a letter to Sir Keir Starmer calling for the UK to recognise Palestinian 220 MPs from nine political parties have backed the call, including more than 100 from Labour, arguing that UK recognition would be a "powerful symbolic message" and a vital step toward a two-state letter piles fresh pressure on the PM after France made a commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood within in a statement after an emergency phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, Sir Keir said recognition of a Palestinian had to be part of a "wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution". Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
Telegraph
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
No one has noticed the most important part of Kemi's reshuffle
Michael Heseltine was talking recently to a Conservative successor – that's to say, to a man who now is, as Heseltine himself was once was, a Tory shadow Cabinet minister. 'During every single day of opposition,' he said, 'I went to bed with one thought only. Namely – how will I attack the Labour Party when I get up tomorrow morning?' Ponder the applicability of those words, the best part of 50 years on. Then, the Conservatives had 279 Commons seats, not too far off the winning line of 318, and about 38 per cent of the vote. Now, they have 120 seats, their lowest total in modern times, off the back of a mere 24 per cent of the vote – the lowest share in their party's history. Then, the energies of Margaret Thatcher, in whose shadow Cabinet Heseltine served, were concentrated, like his, on defeating Labour. The Liberals, as they were, had 13 MPs. Reform didn't exist at all. The SNP was unrepresented in the Commons. Today, Kemi Badenoch, must contend not only with Sir Keir Starmer but with Sir Ed Davey, whose Liberal Democrats hold 72 seats, most of which were previously Conservative, and with Nigel Farage, whose party leads the polls, snatched ten councils off the Tories in this year's local elections, and are poised to make further gains next year. Furthermore, Heseltine's main means of communication to voters was three TV channels and a handful of newspapers. Today, his successor must cover a mass of channels, online papers, YouTube, X, TikTok and much more – when he isn't being run ragged responding to a pile of frantic messages in a mass of WhatsApp groups. In short, he must embrace his front bench duties less like work than like a religious vocation. Everything else must play second fiddle. Nothing else can get in their way. He must have, as Yeats once wrote of himself, a fanatic heart. Chris Philp, Laura Trott, Andrew Griffith and above all Robert Jenrick are among those who cut the mustard. Other such MPs tend to be fairly new, with a stake in the future. Promoting them rapidly means upsetting older hands – a risky course to take if your position, like Badenoch's, is not completely secure. But not doing so means firing on less than all cylinders. There is no easy option – and, remember, most voters don't know who any of these people are and care even less. So that James Cleverly, Badenoch's defeated rival for the Conservative leadership, has returned to the Tory front bench may turn out to be less important than the reported entry to the shadow Cabinet of Neil O'Brien – who will apparently take charge of the policy process. O'Brien, who entered the Commons eight years ago, is part of a clutch of younger Conservative MPs who have the energy, brains and skills necessary if the Tories are to be reinvigorated. Others include Katie Lam, Danny Kruger and Nick Timothy. (500) Obviously, some experience is needed in the mix – which explains, for example, why John Glen, a former minister, has been appointed as Badenoch's parliamentary private secretary. And with the top three shadow Cabinet posts unchanged, plus Robert Jenrick kept where he is, Badenoch is walking on the cautious side of the street. All in all, the Conservative leader has opted to shake up CCHQ and shuffle her middle-ranking shadow Cabinet ministers. Do her changes cohere? Probably. Can their significance be over-egged? Certainly. Do they pass the Heseltine test? The jury is out.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘Will you shut up': Farage's anti-Macron speech drowned out by hecklers
Showing now | News 01:56 Holly Patrick Nigel Farage was drowned out by hecklers as he criticised Emmanuel Macron during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, 9 July. As the Reform UK leader stood up, jeers rang out across the House of Commons. He went on to say that the reason the UK voted for Brexit was because "we wanted to take back control of our borders". Mr Farage told Sir Keir Starmer that the country demands "that you are not dictated to by an increasingly arrogant, anti-Brexit French president." The prime minister responded by insisting that Labour are "fixing the mess that we inherited."
