By Phyllis Starkey, former MP and BPP deputy chair
14 May, 2025
Earlier this week a group of 69 Labour MPs and six Labour peers published a letter they had sent to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, calling on him to recognise Palestine in concert with France, at the planned Franco-Saudi summit in July.
This is just the latest example of sustained pressure from MPs critiquing the effectiveness of the Government’s attempts to influence Israel to move from an increasingly extreme military “solution”, towards a ceasefire and negotiated settlement that respects the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis.
The balance of Parliamentary opinion on Israel/Palestine has moved enormously since my time as an MP (1997-2010), becoming increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinian viewpoint and critical of Israeli actions.
This trend has accelerated since Israel’s disproportionate response to the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas attack. In part this reflects a similar shift in public opinion, and therefore lobbying from constituents, but also the evidence available from social media, eye-witness accounts from Palestinians and visiting volunteer medical staff, MPs’ own visits to the region and briefings from NGOs and UN agencies.
Ironically, the most persuasive factor has been the statements of Israeli ministers like Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and the horrific toll of death, destruction, forced displacement and starvation unleashed by the Israeli Government, especially in Gaza, but also across the West Bank. This shift in opinion was most clearly expressed last week by the words of the Conservative former minister Mark Pritchard
“…for many years I have supported Israel—pretty much at all costs, quite frankly—but today I say that I got it wrong. I condemn Israel for what it is doing to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. I withdraw my support right now for the actions of Israel ……”.
Backbench MPs have a variety of ways in which they can exert pressure for change in Government policy and these have been exploited to the full since 7 Oct. Apart from regular Prime Ministerial and Ministerial Questions, MPs can apply for an Urgent Question to force the relevant Minister to answer questions arising from the latest development on the ground, and Ministers sometimes take the initiative themselves to make a Ministerial Statement which creates openings for MPs’ questions.
Often these sessions last at least an hour with 50 or more MPs able to participate. Backbench MPs can also ballot to initiate a debate in Westminster Hall on a specific aspect of the conflict to which a Minister must respond, and these too attract a significant number of participants. Three different select Committees have undertaken in depth inquiries; International Development, Foreign Affairs and Business and Trade. The latter has very effectively probed the Government’s somewhat selective use of controls on weapons sales to Israel.
Reflecting the current political party representation across the House of Commons, Labour MPs are the most numerous in all these debates, but Lib Dem, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MPs are equally active, together with a small number of stalwart Conservative members.
When the Government is most vulnerable
MPs are increasingly frustrated by Ministers’ stonewalling, and urge “action not words” on recognition, ending all arms sales and intelligence sharing, banning settlement trade, wider sanctions against Israel modelled on those against Russia, sanctions against Israeli Ministers advocating expulsion and other concrete measures to end Israel’s impunity. Apart from these public activities there are also many behind the scenes opportunities, especially for Labour members, where their critique can be more robust.
The Government is most vulnerable when it is accused of not complying with its obligations under International Law. Despite both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary regularly citing the commitment to International Law being at the core of Government policies, Ministers regularly fail to move from words to proactive action.
A key example is the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 2024 which ruled the Occupation of all Palestinian Territory to be unlawful and required third party states to review all their interactions with Israel, and ensure they were not in any way aiding or maintaining Israel’s illegal occupation.
Last week the Labour Chair of the Justice Select Committee challenged the Middle East Minister; “On the anniversary of the ICJ advisory opinion on the occupation, what is delaying the UK Government’s response? Is it that the opinion requires not just recognition that the occupation is illegal [which the government has done] but the Government to set out what steps they will take to end that occupation?”
We must all keep up the pressure; many citizens are doing this through extra Parliamentary activities, but each of us also needs to be lobbying their own MPs, thanking them for what they are doing and encouraging them to do more. We owe it to the Palestinians to use every avenue to convince our Government to translate its talk into effective action, to hold the Israeli Government to account and to end this forever war which benefits neither Palestinians nor Israelis, and to work for a just peace.