‘Not much difference’ between Scotland and UK Labour’s ceasefire position, says Anas Sarwar

Published

1 year ago

February 18, 2024

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Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has insisted there is “not much difference” between his and Sir Keir Starmer’s position on a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr Sarwar has been calling for the ceasefire for months – unlike the UK Labour leader who says he wants a “sustainable” end to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

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However, the Glasgow MSP dismissed the suggestion there was a clear difference between the two positions, telling Sunday Morning With Trevor Philips (SMTP) that the pair were in “absolute agreement” on most issues relating to the Middle East.

He said Scottish Labour’s motion calling for an end to the conflict, which passed at the party’s conference on Saturday, was not calling for Israel to “unilaterally” stop their actions in Gaza but rather, “an to end violence both ways”.

He said: “A ceasefire means the end of violence and rocket fire in Gaza, but also absolutely has to mean an end to rocket fire coming out of Gaza.

“It also includes the immediate release of hostages… alongside humanitarian aid needing to get in and the pathway to a two-state solution.

“In terms of where the position relates to the UK Labour Party and the Scottish Labour Party, I actually don’t think there’s much difference.”

He pointed to a speech made by Sir Keir on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, in which he said “the fighting must stop now”.

However, Sir Keir has been coming under pressure to explicitly back a ceasefire, with several members of his shadow cabinet resigning over his position last year.

There are fears of a fresh crisis on Wednesday when the SNP will force another vote on the matter in the House of Commons.

In the previous vote in November, Sir Keir’s decision to favour “humanitarian pauses” led to the departure of 10 shadow ministers and parliamentary aides who rebelled to vote for a full ceasefire.

Mr Sarwar, who has signalled support for the SNP motion, said rather than focus on the position of two opposition parties, next week’s debate should focus on how to get parliament to find an agreement as a majority.

He said: “The Conservatives still have a majority in parliament.

“How do we get a majority that sends a unified message to Israel and in Palestine that we need the violence to stop right now? That should be our ambition rather than making this a debate about two opposition parties.”

Following his remarks, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said he understands the position of Scottish Labour – but stressed he wanted to make sure any pause in fighting was “sustainable”.

He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I fully understand that Scottish colleagues want the fighting to stop now, we’ve been saying that for weeks, so we agree with them.”

But he added: “I’m not sure that what’s flying around on Twitter says anything about it being sustainable.

“You can have a ceasefire that lasts for a few days. We want the ceasefire to last and to be permanent and to move towards the diplomatic solution. It will only be a political solution that brings an end to this.”

Politics

UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand condemn Israel’s plan for new operation in Gaza

Published

5 hours ago

August 9, 2025

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UK joins four countries in condemning Israel's plan for new operation in Gaza

The UK and four allies have criticised Israel’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza – warning it will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the territory.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand said in a joint statement that the offensive will “endanger the lives of hostages” and “risk violating international humanitarian law”.

It comes a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved an operation to take military control of Gaza City – and concluded a full takeover of the enclave is required to end the conflict.

It marks another escalation in the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

In their joint statement, the UK and its allies said they “strongly reject” the decision, adding: “It will endanger the lives of the hostages and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.

“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”

The countries also called for a permanent ceasefire as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza”.

It comes as Sky News analysis has found that airdrops of aid are making little difference to Gaza’s hunger crisis, and pose serious risks to the population – with a father-of-two killed by a falling package.

Meanwhile, France, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations all criticised Israel’s plan for a full occupation of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “expressed his disappointment” with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s in phone call on Friday after Berlin decided it would stop selling arms to Israel.

In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office added: “Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.”

US ambassador hits out at Starmer

Earlier on Friday, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said Israel’s decision to “escalate its offensive” in Gaza is “wrong”.

Mr Huckabee wrote on X: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”

In another post around an hour later Mr Huckabee wrote: “How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza?

“@IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages.”

Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.

The UK and its allies criticised Israel as US President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met at Chevening House in Kent on Friday.

Mr Vance described a “disagreement” about how the US and UK could achieve their “common objectives” in the Middle East, and said the Trump administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”.

He said: “I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”

Mr Vance added: “There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation.”

The UN Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said earlier on Friday that a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.

Politics

BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be ‘messed up’ — Analyst

Published

5 hours ago

August 9, 2025

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<div>BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be 'messed up' — Analyst</div>

BlackRock hasn’t filed for a Solana ETF, but ETF analyst James Seyffart says they shouldn’t be allowed to jump in at the last minute after other issuers’ hard work.