Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza after a string of senior Labour figures broke ranks to challenge his stance.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham are among those who want the Labour leadership to strengthen its position and back a full cessation of violence between Israel and Hamas.
Sir Keir is united with Rishi Sunak, the US, and most recently the EU in pushing for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, while supporting Tel Aviv’s right to defend itself against the militants who launched a wave of bloodshed in Israel earlier this month, killing at least 1,400 people.
Politics Live: Pressure mounts on Keir Starmer as trio of top Labour figures call for Gaza ceasefire
But the Labour leader has angered MPs for not going further, with dozens urging him to back a ceasefire to prevent the conflict from escalating.
On Friday Mr Khan, who became the first-ever Muslim mayor of London in 2016, said: “I join the international community in calling for a ceasefire. It would stop the killing and would allow vital aid supplies to reach those who need it in Gaza.
“It would also allow the international community more time to prevent a protracted conflict in the region and further devastating loss of life.”
Mr Khan said Israel did have the right to defend itself, but warned the “terrible situation in Gaza now looks set to deteriorate even further”.
“A widespread military escalation will only deepen the humanitarian disaster. It will increase human suffering on all sides. No nation, including Israel, has the right to break international law.”
Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar, who in 2021 became the UK’s first Muslim to lead a political party, made the same demand with his own video just a few hours later, saying there have been “too many innocent lives lost in Israel and Palestine”.
“We are all so desperate for peace and are desperate to see the end of violence,” he said.
Shortly afterwards Mr Burnham, deputy mayor Kate Green and the 10 leaders of Greater Manchester released a joint statement also calling for a ceasefire “amid the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza”.
The group said they “condemn unreservedly” the Hamas attacks on October 7 and that Israel “has the right to take targeted action within international law to defend itself”.
But they added: “We also have profound concerns about the loss of thousands of innocent lives in Gaza, the displacement of many more and widespread suffering through the ongoing blockade of essential goods and services. It is vital that urgent support and humanitarian aid is allowed into the area.”
Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed had earlier said he “empathises” with MPs angry about the party leadership’s stance on the crisis in Gaza, but stood by the position taken by Sir Keir.
The shadow frontbench member told Sky News that if the attack Israel suffered had happened in the UK: “Our state would have sought to defend ourselves to protect our citizens by dismantling the capability of a terrorist organisation that carried it out. That applies to Israel too, they have the right under international law to do that.”
Party sources also made clear Sir Keir was not about to strengthen his position.
Tensions have been growing not only over his resistance in calling for a ceasefire, but also over his previous remarks in which he appeared to suggest Israel had the right to cut off power and water in Gaza.
The comments, which he has since rowed back from, prompted resignations among Labour councillors and angered the party’s MPs, even those on the frontbenches as shadow ministers.
Sir Keir has been holding meetings within his party to soothe some of the anger, including in talks with Muslim Labour MPs in Parliament on Wednesday. They urged him during the “firm” exchange to back a ceasefire, believing the British public support the move as well.
Political correspondent
“Let me be clear: that means a ceasefire right now.”
Anas Sarwar is determined to offer no room for equivocation or confusion on his position on the question which has cut a bitter rift through the Labour party this week.
The Scottish Labour leader has chosen the words of his social media video carefully – insisting that while “throughout this conflict I have utterly condemned the actions of Hamas” there is “no justification for the collective punishment of the people of Gaza”.
He goes on to argue that withholding essential supplies to the Palestinian civilians is a “breach” of international law and that a ceasefire is the only way to ensure humanitarian aid gets through.
His intervention follows a widespread mutiny from Labour councillors and growing discontent on the parliamentary benches on the issue – sparked originally by anger in response to Sir Keir Starmer’s interview with LBC in which he suggested that Israel “does have that right” to cut off power and water from Gaza as part of its action to defend itself within the context of international law.
The party leadership has been fighting a rear-guard action to backtrack on the interview ever since, arguing Sir Keir has been misinterpreted and was inadvertently responding to a different question.
But the row is a symptom a wider feeling of frustration that the party’s position on the conflict is out of step with the position of much of its membership in not doing enough to stand up for the rights of the people of Gaza – an anger which only grows as the casualties mount and the humanitarian situation becomes ever more desperate.
Anas Sarwar’s announcement comes just hours after a similar call from London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, who argues that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating, military action appears imminent – and therefore that the time to make the case of a ceasefire is now.
This afternoon Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester added his weight to the campaign too. Burnham’s never been afraid to speak his mind or diverge from the leader’s position, but he’s a powerful voice in the party.
Likewise Mr Khan is no stranger to taking an independent stance – as seen during this summer’s row over Ulez expansion- but Sarwar’s intervention is perhaps more striking.
He’s something of a rising star in the party thanks to Labour’s growing popularity in the Scottish polls, crowned by their stonking win over the SNP in the Rutherglen and West Hamilton by election.
The road to a majority Labour victory at the next general election has to run through Scotland; and while the recent collapse in SNP support is largely due to their own internal issues Sarwar has successfully capitalised on that. His influence has grown as a result.
The SNP have been calling for a ceasefire for some time now – Humza Yousaf’s wife’s family of course among those trapped in Gaza.
Now Sarwar’s position is now more closely aligned with that of the SNP than his own party leadership, which mirrors the government’s in calling for ‘humanitarian pauses’ to let aid in and civilians and hostages out without negating Israel’s right to take military action against Hamas.
For two of Labour’s most prominent Muslim voices to step beyond the party line in calling for a ceasefire piles the pressure onto Sir Keir Starmer.
The Labour leader has spent years stamping out antisemitism in the party and so far has been resolutely determined not to suggest any lessening in his unequivocal support for Israel as it responds to the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. But as the carnage in Gaza grows worse by the hour – how long can his position hold?
Ministers also resist ceasefire pressure
Government ministers are also resisting pressure to back calls for a ceasefire.
On Friday, dozens of children laid teddy bears outside the gates of the Foreign Office to put pressure on Downing Street to withdraw military support for Israel.
The demonstration was organised by a group of parents who said they felt compelled to act as they watched the scenes of destruction in the bombarded 25-mile territory. The Palestinian death toll in Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza has passed 7,000, according to the health ministry.
However, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said on Friday morning that Downing Street did not want to “cross that line of telling Israel it has anything but the right to defend itself”.
“Hamas have created this situation and Hamas are now embedding themselves in the Palestinian population,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
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Border Force teams set up in Egypt to help citizens – if they can get out
Instead of a ceasefire, government ministers are calling for a break in the fighting – dubbing this a “humanitarian pause”- in order to get aid into Gaza and allow British citizens to escape.
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Around 200 British nationals are thought to be trapped in the territory.
UK Border Force teams are set up in Egypt to help if the Rafah border crossing is opened up for people to leave.
The crossing into northeast Egypt is currently closed apart from for aid deliveries – with Cairo reportedly blaming Israeli bombings around the area for it not being open for foreign nationals to pass through.
