Keir Starmer is under pressure from cabinet ministers for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, as global outcry grows over Israel’s killing of starving civilians in Gaza. The prime minister is understood to have been urged by a number of senior ministers in different cabinet meetings over recent months that the UK should take a leading role in issuing recognition.
The UK currently plans to formally acknowledge Palestine as part of a peace process, but only in conjunction with other western countries and “at the point of maximum impact”. However, a growing sense of desperation and horror inside the Labour cabinet in recent weeks over Israel’s actions in Gaza has prompted calls for swifter action.
One cabinet minister said: “We say that recognising Palestinian statehood is a really important symbol that you can only do once. But if not now, then when?” Earlier this month, nearly 60 Labour MPs demanded immediate recognition after Israel’s defence minister announced plans to force all residents of Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah.
The foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the UK would “play its part” in reaching a two-state solution, but noted the lack of a process to attach recognition to. Meanwhile, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, called for recognition “while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise”, criticising Israel’s attack on a WHO facility in Deir al-Balah. Other ministers including Shabana Mahmood and Hilary Benn have also raised the issue in cabinet.
Speaking at the Commons liaison committee, Starmer described the situation in Gaza as “intolerable” and reiterated the UK’s commitment to recognising a Palestinian state “at a time most conducive to the prospects of peace”. France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing a UN conference later this month to discuss postwar plans and formal recognition of Palestine.
