After working hard to present a unified approach to the Israel-Hamas war at last week’s conference, Labour officials are now battling resisting councillors.
Four Muslim councillors from across the country have already quit over the party’s pro-Israel stance. Reports suggest that dozens more could also be on their way out.
Labour is holding “crisis talks” with local leaders to prevent factions from causing major disruption, according to The Daily Telegraph. It added that talks have so far “gone badly, with participants warning that Sir Keir [Starmer] had days to change his approach or face more resignations.”
These rebels were particularly angered by the Labour leader’s view that Israel “has the right” to withhold power and water from Gaza. Party bigwig Rachel Reeves also said last week that Labour has “no time” for members cheering on the Palestinian cause following Hamas’s terrorist acts. Since this time, Labour councillors in London have been told “they must not, under any circumstance[s]” attend pro-Palestine marches.
Amna Abdullatif, who has quit Labour and now sits on Manchester City council as an independent, explained:
I am appalled by the lack of humanity being shown to Palestinians by the party I have been a member of for the last 10 years … Collective punishment is illegal under international law, it is inhumane and unconscionable. I cannot fathom how the leadership … has not called for a de-escalation to violence and a ceasefire. This is deeply irresponsible and dangerous.
One Labour insider told the Telegraph that officials in Leicester, which has been controlled by the party for 43 of the past 50 years, were “under huge pressure” from Muslim constituents. Seven of the city’s Muslim councillors also published a letter “unequivocally distancing” themselves from Starmer’s stance.
National officials are now concerned that its control of Leicester could be lost altogether, while writer Andrew Stuttaford noted that this affair put a question mark over the claim that Labour has moved on since the days of Corbyn.
