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Divisions within the Labour party over Sir Keir Starmer’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war deepened on Friday after two prominent mayors and the party’s leader in Scotland broke ranks by demanding a ceasefire.
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, Andy Burnham, mayor of Manchester, and Anas Sarwar, Scottish party leader, all made separate public interventions demanding a cessation of violence.
Khan, one of Labour’s highest-profile elected officials, published a video clip setting out his views on the social media site X. “We need to stop further Israeli and Palestinian suffering and the loss of civilian lives — including children — now. Today I’ve called for a ceasefire,” he said.
Sarwar also released a video clip on X, saying: “There have been too many innocent lives lost in Israel and Palestine. We need a ceasefire now.”
Meanwhile, Burnham was joined by deputy mayor of Greater Manchester Kate Green and 10 leaders of Manchester councils in adding to the “growing international calls for a ceasefire by all sides and for the hostages to be released unharmed”.
The group stated that they recognised Israel’s “right to take targeted action within international law” to defend itself against “terror attacks and terrorist organisations and to rescue hostages”.
The interventions have ratcheted up pressure on Starmer to back a ceasefire, a demand echoed by a group of Muslim Labour MPs when they met with the party leader for talks on Wednesday.
Labour officials have been on resignation watch this week amid concerns that as many as four frontbenchers could quit in protest at Starmer’s position.
The Labour leader has joined UK prime minister Rishi Sunak in mirroring calls, first made by the US, for “humanitarian pauses” in the conflict to allow aid to be delivered to Gaza and enable people to leave the strip. The EU has also since adopted this line.
Many in Starmer’s party would like to see him go further, however. More than 45 Labour MPs have signed an early-day motion calling for a ceasefire.
Shadow ministers have also diverged from the official line. Front bench MP Imran Hussain has signed the motion, while shadow equalities minister Yasmin Qureshi called for a ceasefire during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Qureshi also deviated from Starmer’s position by accusing Israel of inflicting “collective punishment” on civilians in Gaza.
On Friday, shadow cabinet member Steve Reed said he empathised with the desire for a permanent halt in fighting, but sought to explain the leadership’s decision not to join in calls for one.
If Britain had suffered a similar atrocity “our state would have sought to defend ourselves to protect our citizens by dismantling the capability of a terrorist organisation that carried it out,” he told Sky News.
“That applies to Israel too. They have the right under international law to do that. But in taking that work, they must continue to follow international law as they carry it out, but long term, the only solution to this crisis is not going to be military.”
Downing Street has said a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas. Gillian Keegan, education secretary, said the UK government was not demanding one because it would not want to “cross that line of telling Israel it has anything but the right to defend itself”.
She told ITV that a humanitarian pause would be “very difficult” to implement and the UK would be “reliant on” it being observed to deliver aid to Gaza.
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