Keir Starmer risks triggering the biggest rebellion of his leadership if he tries to stop his MPs voting on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, backbenchers have warned.
The Scottish Labour party voted this weekend in favour an immediate ceasefire, but Starmer has so far stopped short of backing such a position, saying instead that Israel and Hamas need to “get to” an end to the fighting.
Last week, Starmer suspended two Labour candidates for making derogatory remarks about Israel during a meeting designed to persuade those upset by his stance on the war not to leave the party.
He was accused of acting too slowly to discipline Azhar Ali, however, after the party’s candidate in Rochdale was recorded saying he believed Israel had allowed the 7 October attack to happen as a pretext for war.
Starmer told the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow this weekend that the “fighting must stop now” in Gaza, warning Israel not to invade the southern city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are taking refuge.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, spurred hope among some Labour MPs that the party’s position was changing further when he said on Monday morning that Israel had gone “beyond reasonable self-defence” in Gaza.
The original article contains 662 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Keir Starmer risks triggering the biggest rebellion of his leadership if he tries to stop his MPs voting on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, backbenchers have warned.
The Scottish Labour party voted this weekend in favour an immediate ceasefire, but Starmer has so far stopped short of backing such a position, saying instead that Israel and Hamas need to “get to” an end to the fighting.
Last week, Starmer suspended two Labour candidates for making derogatory remarks about Israel during a meeting designed to persuade those upset by his stance on the war not to leave the party.
He was accused of acting too slowly to discipline Azhar Ali, however, after the party’s candidate in Rochdale was recorded saying he believed Israel had allowed the 7 October attack to happen as a pretext for war.
Starmer told the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow this weekend that the “fighting must stop now” in Gaza, warning Israel not to invade the southern city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are taking refuge.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, spurred hope among some Labour MPs that the party’s position was changing further when he said on Monday morning that Israel had gone “beyond reasonable self-defence” in Gaza.
The original article contains 662 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!