Keir Starmer says “the fighting must stop now” in Gaza and urges Israel to travel to the southern city of Rafah ahead of what could be a new crisis for his party. warned against escalating military attacks.
The Labor leader made the comments in a speech to the Scottish Labor Party conference in Glasgow, where he was under fresh pressure ahead of Wednesday’s crucial Commons vote on a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire. There is.
“I just returned from the Munich Security Conference, where the conversation was all about the situation in Israel and Gaza, and the question of what we can actually do to achieve what we all want to see: the return of everyone. “On October 7, the hostages were taken, the killing of innocent Palestinians ended, humanitarian assistance was significantly increased, and the fighting ended,” he said.
“Not just now, not just a pause, but forever. The ceasefire lasts. That’s what has to happen now. The fighting has to stop now.”
This stance has caused deep divisions across the Labor Party, with Mr Starmer previously refusing to back calls for an “immediate” end to the violence, using the more cautious term “sustainable ceasefire”. Ta.
His speech came a day after the conference passed a motion explicitly calling for an immediate ceasefire between the two sides, and was echoed by Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar, who has previously criticized Starmer’s more cautious stance. also supported.
Labor faces another dangerous vote in the Commons on Wednesday, with the Scottish National Party tabled a motion calling for an immediate end to the violence. The party is desperate to avoid a repeat of the large-scale rebellion over a similar SNP motion last November. At the time, 56 Labor MPs rebelled against the party’s whip and eight front-runners, including Jess Phillips, resigned.
Mr Starmer on Sunday called for a return to a “genuine peace process” that would put the two-state solution back on the table, telling Scottish Labor members: “The attack is now under threat to Rafah, which has 1.5 million people. “There is,” he said. Crammed together in unimaginable conditions and with nowhere else to go – there is no way this could become a new battlefield. Such an attack cannot occur. ”
The SNP has increased pressure on Mr Starmer, writing to backbenchers and urging them to support the new move.
Westminster Party leader Stephen Flynn published a letter on Monday inviting Mr Starmer to a meeting to discuss the motion, but said the wording of the motion was “unambiguous” and “must remain clear in its call for immediate passage”. stated. It’s a truce.
After backing calls for an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, Mr Sarwar signaled a willingness to work with the SNP and said the Commons motion looked “pretty decent”.
Mr Sarwar said: “If we can send a unified message from the British Parliament, we should take that opportunity and hope that the people will be sincere in their efforts to find that unified position. ” he said.
On Sunday, David Lammy sought to downplay Wednesday’s vote, claiming the party’s political debate at Westminster would not achieve peace in the region.
“Yes, there will be a vote in parliament this week,” the shadow foreign secretary said. “But that vote does not result in a ceasefire. It is a diplomatic action, it is Hamas, it is Benjamin Netanyahu, it is partners for peace who say the fighting must stop now.”
Mr Starmer also warned Scottish delegates, who appeared enthusiastic and energized by the party’s best-attended conference in decades, not to become complacent, warning the former Labor party, which had won support, from becoming complacent. He said there was still a “mountain to climb” to win back voters. The SNP becomes its new political home.
He ran against SNP leader Humza Yousaf, but his message to voters since the new year was that Mr Starmer “doesn’t need Scotland to win the general election” and that SNP MPs would “keep Scotland together”. It was something. [Starmer] We are honest about issues like child poverty and the transition to green energy.
“Regardless of what the SNP says, the Conservatives can win the next election,” Starmer said.
Addressing wavering voters across the UK, who polls show will have a significant impact on Labour’s election results, Mr Starmer said: ‘I know there will always be debate about Scotland’s constitutional future. ” he said.
“Now, if you want a UK that puts Scotland at the center of the Westminster debate, if you want a politics dedicated to breaking the class ceiling, that’s the change we can bring to Scotland. ”.
