Protesters target home of Sir Keir Starmer to demand arms embargo on Israel
A group of pro-Palestinian activists have held a protest outside the home of Sir Keir Starmer – a move that has been condemned by the prime minister.
The campaigners arrived at the Labour leader’s house to call on him to support an arms embargo on Israel.
The demonstration saw dozens of children’s shoes placed outside his property with a banner nearby that read: “Starmer Stop the Killing” – an apparent reference to Labour “allowing the selling of arms to Israel”.
The Metropolitan Police said three people were arrested under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, a power designed to “stop the harassment of a person at their home address”.
Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly criticised the protesters’ decision to target Sir Keir’s home.
Mr Sunak wrote on X: “I don’t care what your politics are, no MP should be harassed at their own home.
“We cannot and will not tolerate this.”
Mr Cleverly also posted to the social media website: “This is unacceptable. There is no excuse for harassing and intimidating politicians and their families in their homes.”
The protest comes as the government comes under pressure to publish legal advice it has received over whether Israel has breached international law in Gaza after seven aid workers, including three British volunteers, were killed in an airstrike last week – something Israel has said was a “grave mistake”.
More than 33,000 Palestinians, including over 15,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel launched its offensive in the Palestinian territory following the assault by Hamas which killed around 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
The UK government does not directly supply Israel with weapons but does grant export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country.
Labour has said arms exports to Israel should be suspended if the advice ministers have received is that international law has been broken, but the government is refusing to make the guidance public, citing confidentiality.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has resisted backing an embargo without seeing the advice first.
An Israeli investigation into the killing of the seven aid workers found that incorrect assumptions, decision-making mistakes and violations of the rules of engagement had resulted in their deaths.
The Israeli military also dismissed two senior officers as a result of the investigation.
During a news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, said the UK’s position on arms sales to Israel remains “unchanged”.
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“I have now reviewed the most recent advice about the situation in Gaza and Israel’s conduct of their military campaign,” he said.
“The latest assessment leaves our position on export licenses unchanged. This is consistent with the advice that I and other ministers have received.”
However, he added: “We will keep the position under review.”
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Jeremy Hunt will promise further tax cuts if the Tories win the next general election and will accuse the Labour Party of not being honest about how it will fund its spending pledges.
The chancellor will give a speech in London on Friday in which he will accuse his shadow, Rachel Reeves, of resorting to “playground politics” with her criticism of the high levels of taxation on UK households.
Mr Hunt will also reiterate his ambition to eradicate the national insurance tax – which the Tories have already slashed twice in a bid to move the polls – where they currently lag 20 points behind Labour.
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Labour has attacked the policy as an unfunded £46bn pledge and likened it to the policies that saw Liz Truss resign from office after just 44 days as prime minister.
The chancellor was previously forced to make clear that his desire to abolish the “unfair” national insurance tax would not happen “any time soon”.
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The chancellor described national insurance as a “tax on work” and said he believed it was “unfair that we tax work twice” when other forms of income are only taxed once.
The overall tax burden is expected to increase over the next five years to around 37% of gross domestic product – close to a post-Second World War high – but Mr Hunt will argue the furlough scheme brought in during the pandemic and the help the government gave households for heating both needed to be paid for.
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“Labour like to criticise tax rises this parliament thinking people don’t know why they have gone up – the furlough scheme, the energy price guarantee and billions of pounds of cost-of-living support, policies Labour themselves supported,” he will say.
“Which is why it is playground politics to use those tax rises to distract debate from the biggest divide in British politics – which is what happens next.
“Conservatives recognise that whilst those tax rises may have been necessary, they should not be permanent. Labour do not.”
James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “There is nothing Jeremy Hunt can say or do to hide that fact that working people are worse off after 14 years of economic failure under the Conservatives.”
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