Political reporter
ReutersMore than a third of MPs have signed a letter to Sir Keir Starmer calling for the UK to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Some 220 MPs from nine political parties have backed the call, more than half of them Labour, arguing that UK recognition would send a “powerful” message and a vital step toward a two-state solution.
The letter piles fresh pressure on the PM after France made a commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood within months.
But in a statement after an emergency phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Sir Keir said recognition of a Palestinian state had to be part of a “wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution”.
In his statement, Sir Keir said: “Alongside our closest allies, I am working on a pathway to peace in the region, focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those that are suffering in this war.
“That pathway will set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that.
“But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
A joint statement from the leaders of UK, France and Germany, following their emergency call, does not mention Palestinian statehood.
But it said all three countries “stand ready to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that leads to lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region”.
The statement is critical of the Israeli government, demanding an end to aid restrictions and warning the “humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now”.
The statement also stresses Hamas must be disarmed and “have no role in the future of Gaza”.
The letter comes after the UK and 27 other countries condemned the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” seeking food and water in Gaza.
Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into the Palestinian territory, has repeatedly said that there is no siege, blaming Hamas for any cases of malnutrition.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the countries’ statement, saying it was “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas”.
According to the UN human rights office, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food aid over the past two months.
The letter has been signed by 131 Labour MPs, including senior figures like former minister Liam Byrne and committee chair Ruth Cadbury.
Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey, former Tory minister Kit Malthouse and Conservative Sir Edward Leigh – parliament’s longest serving MP – have also signed.
SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents were among those who signed the letter.
The letter argued that a Parliament has held a “cross-party consensus for decades” on recognising Palestinian statehood as part of a “two-state solution”.
While recognition alone would not end the suffering in Gaza, “British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful” given its history in the region, the MPs say.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the international development select committee and who organised the letter, said a two-state solution “remains the only viable proposal to secure a lasting peace for the region”.
“Recognition would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people, that they are not alone and they need to maintain hope that there is a route that leads to lasting peace and security for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” she added.
