Keir Starmer is facing intense pressure from his cabinet ministers and MPs to move faster on recognizing a Palestinian state, with more than 60 Labour MPs supporting the move. The UK government’s policy is that it will formally acknowledge Palestine as part of a peace process, but only in conjunction with other western countries.
The international outcry over Israel’s actions has grown, with charities saying cases of severe malnutrition among children under five in Gaza City have tripled in two weeks. The UK, France, and Germany said the Gaza humanitarian catastrophe must end now and called on Israel to immediately lift restrictions on aid flow.
Starmer supports recognizing a Palestinian state but believes it must be part of a wider plan resulting in a two-state solution for lasting security. However, French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for immediate recognition, which Trump dismissed as “not going to change anything”.
A letter signed by 221 MPs from nine parties calls for British recognition of Palestine to be announced next week at a UN conference in New York. The signatories include several Labour select committee chairs and the Liberal Democrat leader.
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières reported cases of severe malnutrition among children under five had tripled, with the hunger crisis reaching “new and astonishing levels of desperation”. The UN World Food Programme said nearly a third of people in Gaza were not eating for days.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/25/cabinet-ministers-and-third-of-mps-call-on-starmer-to-recognise-state-of-palestine