Today, there is a motion to support the call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine which will be voted on in the House of Commons.
As a long-standing supporter of Palestinian rights and statehood, this is a very important issue to me and I know it is a very important issue to thousands of my constituents. It is important for me to represent my constituents at every opportunity.
I will be voting in favour of the motion to echo the ceasefire calls. To do this, I have stepped down from the Labour Front Bench team. I have used my time on the Front Bench team since 7th October to advocate for the lives of innocent civilians who are facing violence in the region. You can view my full statement here.
To be clear, this is the first opportunity for MPs to vote on these calls. This vote is not legally binding and does not force the Conservative Government to call for a ceasefire, but is a demonstration of the support for a ceasefire amongst MPs. Unfortunately, with the Conservative Government remaining staunchly against bringing an end to the violence via a ceasefire, this motion is unlikely to lead to any change.
I also had the opportunity to speak in the King’s Speech debate on this issue, which you can read here.
Ultimately, the call for a ceasefire from the UK requires the Prime Minister to echo these calls. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has not and says he will not do this. Instead, he and his Government have chose to target protestors here in the UK.
I will continue to do everything I can to advocate for a long-lasting, peaceful two-state solution. I want to thank you once again for writing to me to share your views on this very important and ongoing issue.