Green party leadership hustings – snap verdict
Most commentators who have expressed a view think Zack Polanski will win the Green party leadership contest, perhaps quite easily. Voting does not open until Friday and the ballot goes on all month – the results will be announced on Tuesday 2 September. There is a limit to what you can pick up from a single leadership hustings, but there was nothing that was said or that happened tonight that suggests this assessment is wrong. Ellie Chowns came over as decent and reasonable, but Polanski was in a different league when it came to verve, polish and passion. As a member of the London assembly, he was playing to a home crowd, but that alone does not explain why, judging by the audience reaction, he was able to fire them up more. He is a natural performer on a political stage.
In a contest with a small electorate (like the parliamentary Conservative party), public appearances aren’t always decisive because the voters know all the candidates personally, and so other factors come into play. Green party elections were probably like that a long time ago. But the party has more than 60,000 members now, and many who vote will do so on the basis of what they have seen on the media. In this space, Polanski seems the clear winner.
It was a friendly debate. (Perhaps Adrian Ramsay not being there made a difference.) Polanski said there was no disagreement on policy and, from what was said tonight, that seems true. He also claimed there was no disagreement about strategy. (See 6.42pm). That is more spurious, because there are clearly tensions between the Green wing very comfortable with Corbynism (Polanski now – but not when Corbyn was actually Labour leader), and the Chowns-Ramsay wing more alive to the concerns of Tory-Lib Dem-leaning voters. But when Polanski said it was mostly a choice between communication styles, that sounded right.
And the debate about communication means, in effect, how best to counter Nigel Farage. The Reform UK leader was referenced constantly tonight; Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch barely got a mention. Chowns seemed horrified by the notion that the Green party had anything to learn from the way Farage campaigns. (See 7.34pm.) Polanski said the opposite. (See 9.43pm.) Given the record of all the others in British politics who have assumed that Farage will just self-implode if left to his own devices, Polanski’s argument was more persuasive.
Has he got what it takes to be a leftwing, progressive Farage? It is too early to tell, but possibly. There aren’t many models in British politics for serious leftwingers who manage to present as charismatic, well-informed, likeable and normal. Ken Livingstone, in his early London mayor days (before he lost his judgment), may be the best example. It is also a lot easier for politicians on the right to be personality politicians, because they do not have to worry so much about censorious party members who police what gets said over policy. But Polanski has certainly got the potential to be a big, leadership voice in the social media era. (Assuming he wins …)
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Chowns says she and Ramsay offer ‘credible’ leadership, saying as MPs they are ‘where political weather made’
And in her final statement Chowns said the Greens needed effective leadership in parliament. She said Caroline Lucas, the former leader, was endorsing her and Adrian Ramsay because she recognised that.
She suggested the party would lose out if the leader or leaders were not sitting in Westminster.
After the media circus of a leadership election has moved on, once we’re back to the day to day business of politics, being there at the centre of Westminster is where the political weather is made.
I wasn’t so convinced of it a while ago, but I absolutely am now. It is so important that our leaders are there on that political platform, able to speak directly, speak truth to power, hold power to account day in, day out, in Westminster.
She said she and Ramsay were offering a leadership that was “focused on winning elections” and “bold and credible”.
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Polanski says contest about ‘who can cut through’ and Greens need ‘bold’ leadership to stop Farage becoming PM
In his final statement, Polanski said that this election was about “who can cut through”.
He went on:
This is not just about who leads the Green party. This is about the fact we are facing down the barrel of a Reform government. Nigel Farage could be prime minister, and I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say the Green party could play a pivotal role in stopping that happen.
But we cannot stop that happen if we are just asking questions in parliament, as important as questions are. We cannot stop that happening if we look at slow, steady, incremental change.
We will stop that happening by being bold – being very clear about exactly what we stand for and exactly what we stand against.
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Question 6 – developing talent
The final question was about what the candidates would do to develop talent in the party.
Polanski says future talent needs to be developed.
He says all four Green MPs are either leaders, ex-leaders, or running to be leader. He says he wants to be an MP. But if he were leader, with two deputies, that would be seven Green figures with a big platform.
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Polanski says Green party PR should combine ‘substance with clickbait’, with ‘storytelling’ as good as Farage’s
Polanski says he has given more than 80 interviews since this contest started – not just comments to journalists, but proper conversations about policy. He goes on:
I don’t agree that it’s binary between clickbait and substance. I think we need substance with clickbait.
And that takes him to Nigel Farage.
So when we look at Nigel Farage, I despise Nigel Farage’s politics, but it is undeniable he is one of the most effective politicians this country has ever had.
I hated Brexit, but he caused Brexit without even being in parliament, just through the power of his storytelling.
Now he’s playing politics on easy mode so he can tell lies and misinformation. And I agree, and I hope Ellie wouldn’t say for a second I was dabbling in that. We should never go into lies and misinformation.
But what he does is he takes those lies and he tells a powerful story that’s easy mode.
We’re in difficult mode. We need to take science research and truth, but that, on its own, is not enough. People aren’t interested in graphs and spreadsheets.
We need to take that science research and truth and tell a powerful story that cuts through, and this, for me, is the very centre of this leadership campaign.
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Question 5 – getting media attention
The next question follows up on this. What are you going to do to make sure the Greens get as much media attention as Nigel Farage?
Chowns says it is frustrating how much attention Reform UK get. She says she has spoken to the BBC about this, and they take into account not just the number of MPs (Reform UK are now on four, the same as the Greens). They take into account polling, she says.
But she says she thinks the Greens have “hugely increased” their visibility as a party.
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Chowns says Greens should stand for ‘different style of politics’, and should not be copying Nigel Farage
Chowns says people tell her that she has not caught the national attention in the way that Nigel Farage has. She goes on:
I would say I don’t aspire to being a Nigel Farage. I aspire to a different type of politics. And yeah, maybe it’s slightly slower burn, certainly it’s less simplifying, certainly it’s far less polarising, certainly I don’t lie and scapegoat and all the rest of it in the way that Nigel Farage has done. And I don’t think we should be aspiring to learn those sorts of lessons at all. I think our USP as Greens is a different style of politics.
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Polanski says he was on a platform with John McDonnell recently. Asked about cooperation between the Greens and Labour or other leftwing parties, McDonnell said at this point he was not interested in electoral pacts, but in intellectual pacts. Polanski says that is his view too.
Polanski says he does now know what will happen to the Corbyn-Sultana party. As deputy leader, he knows how hard it is to get a party to agree on something, he says.
He goes on:
But if they get up and running, great, let’s talk about how we work with them.
And if they don’t get up and running, let’s make sure we’re the party that was proud about our values …
I think that’s about reaching open the hands of friendship, cooperation, and recognising the real threat here is Reform, not Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana.
In response, Chowns plays down the extent of her disagreement with Polanski on this. She suggests she is not against cooperation with the Corbyn-Sultana party. She just stresses that she thinks it is too early to be taking decisions about this, because it is not clear what is going to happen to the Corbyn-Sultana proposal.
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Polanski says Green party should not be closing down prospect of cooperating with Corbyn-Sultana party
Polanski says the Greens need to do some “self-reflection” about the fact that, when Jerermy Cobyn and Zarah Sultana said they would start a new party, 500,000 signed up to say they were interested.
He says he would like those people in the Green party. But the Greens need to recognise that “this half a million people, for whatever reason, aren’t connecting that yet with our values”.
We need to step up. We need to be bolder. We need to make sure that those people know that if they align with our values, which I believe they do, that they are welcome in the Green party.
I consider Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana, both personally and politically, people I want to work with. That does not mean I am talking down the Green party. That doesn’t mean I believe we should go out there and fight for every vote and win every seat we can.
Polanski says he was “disappointed” to see Adrian Ramsay on Twitter saying that the Greens would not become a Jeremy Corbyn support act. He goes on:
Of course we are not the support act, but I also think that’s a way of shutting down conversations before they’ve even begun.
He says he does not know where those conversations might go. But the Greens should not be sending out “tribal tweets”. He goes on:
I think it’s the time to be curious about what does a new politics look like?
What does it look like when we get in the room and say, ‘if we work together, how do we stop Reform?
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Chowns says she is ‘always up’ for considering working with other leftwing parties, in what Polanski claims is ‘shift in tone’
The next question is about working with other parties. Could an alliance with other leftwing parties work?
Chowns says cooperation is “central to the DNA of the greens at so many levels in councils around the country”.
As an MEP, she worked with other parties, she says.
She is passionate about PR, she says. That is partly because it will force parties to cooperate more with each other.
She goes on:
So I am always up for considering cooperating with members of other parties wherever there is common ground. We’ve cooperated in parliament on all sorts of votes already.
It’s quite early to be thinking about the specifics of the next general election, it’s probably four years down the road. And if you look back at the last couple of decades of politics, if you looked at any four-year period in that, any two-year, one-year period in that, you would be really hard put to predict where things would be at the end of that period …
The prospect of a Reform government, or a Reform-led government, should really, really worry us.
Polanski welcomes this. He says he thinks this is “a shift in tone” from Chowns, who has previously played down the prospect of working with the Corbyn party.
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Question 3 – antisemitism
The next question is about tackling antisemitism in the Green party.
Polanski, who is Jewish, says it is not enough not being racist. The party has to be actively anti-racist.
Chowns says it is possible to fight antisemitism, but also to oppose the policies of Israel.
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Polanski suggests capital would be better off without London City airport, saying it does not help local residents
Polanski says ecological boundaries matters as well as economic ones.
He says London City airport is a good example. There is no need for it to exist, he says.
There is no reason for London City airport. And actually, what would it look like if we made sure that there was a big public space there, we built thousands, if not tens of thousands, of social homes and council homes there to make sure people actually had a place to live.
One in every 12 minutes a private jet takes off, some of them from London City Airport. That is completely the pinnacle of climate injustice. That is very wealthy people in the middle of our city polluting an area that has a lot of people living in poverty, a lot of Black and Asian communities there, all breathing in that terrible air pollution.
Danny Keeling, the chair, seems to approve. He is a councillor in Newham and he says it is the worst borough in the UK for people having to live in temporary accommodation because of a housing shortage.
Question 2 – rent support for small businesses and community organisations
The second question is about what can be done to keep rents down for small businesses and community organisations.
Chowns says as a councillor she worked on this. She was a cabinet member of Herefordshire council, and they worked up a scheme for a three-tier rent system, specifically to help the organisations mentioned by the questioners.
She says, in a Conservative-facing areas, Green policies on supporting small businesses are very popular.
Polanski starts by saying somone will soon need to ask a question on which they disagree.
He refers to the Sparks hub in Bristol as an example of how space can be used to benefit the community.
In London Oxford Street is being pedestrianised.
He says that should be a good thing, but campaigners need to check who gets to have the final say on how the space is used, he says. He says he is concerned about corporations being allowed to restrict what happens in their space.
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Chowns says, when she came to parliament, she told people she would be happy if she became knowns as “Mrs Solar Panels”. She says the government has responded, and is investing in this.
Keeling thanks “Mrs Solar Panels”.
It’s “Dr Solar Panels,” she corrects him.
Chowns has a PhD in sustainable economics.
Question 1 – net zero
The first question comes from a member who is also a member of Unite. He asks how the party can show that net zero policies will be good for voters, and that workers in the oil and gas sector won’t lose out.
Polanski picks up on the fact the questioner is a union member. He says he has been endorsed by the president of the Bakers’ Union. He claims this is the first time a trade union has endorsed someone outside the Labour party for decades.
He says the Greens need to campaign for a just transition. And he attacks Reform UK for taking money from the carbon sector. Politicians, like racing drivers, should have to wear uniforms saying who their sponsors are, he says.
Chowns also attacks Reform UK. She says they are whipping up fears about net zero.
We’re seeing those costs already flooding, overheating, excess heat deaths. We are seeing that already. The thing we’ve got to do as Greens is connect those stories and explain how it is that green policies [work].
For example, home insulation. Everyone wants to live in a warm home. Nobody wants to live in a home that leaks heat where their bills are going up while the heat is literally going out the chimney and the windows.
But the government has missed opportunity after opportunity … Previous governments have actively refused to take the role that they should have done to support home insulation. We need a nationwide home insulation programme to get everybody’s home up to scratch.
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Polanski says leadership contest not about strategy or policy, but who is best communicator
Polanski goes next.
He starts by saying he agrees with Chowns. He says journalists try to suggest there is animosity in the contest. He says he does not accept that; it is an election, they are campaigning, but at the end they will come together.
He talks about his campaigning as a member of the London assembly – on issues like homelessness, accessible transport for the disabled, the quality of social housing, the record of Labour councils. He has backed people on picket lines.
He says people assume London is rich, but there is a lot of poverty.
What I’m really talking about here is the deep inequality that’s happening all across England and Wales, but it’s really prominent in our city.
People think London is a very wealthy place, and there are certainly places that have huge wealth in London ..
And we know as a party that we want to tax multi-millionaires and billionaires, because it is corporations who are destroying our environment, destroying our democracy, and destroying our communities.
Polanski says the Greens agree on strategy and policy.
But the election is about communication, he says. He says that is people should think about when they start voting on Friday.
The central question that is with you tonight is, who do you want communicating for you?
Who do you want on that debate stage, taking it to the prime minister?
Who do you want on the media and who do you want going up and down this country at rallies, in community halls, in faith organisations and community centres, saying it is time for a bold party of environmental, social, racial and economic justice.
Chowns gets to go first with an opening statement.
She starts by saying the venue is amazing (and it is lovely).
She says there have been differences of tone in the contest. But it is important to remember what unites them, she says.
She says her strap line, with Adrian Ramsay, is “together we win”. That is the point. She would not be an MP if it had not been for the 450 people who helped her campaign. She says at least one person in the room, from north London, went to North Herefordshire to campaign for her.
Only in recent years have they learned how to win parliamentary and council seats. That has happened under the leadership of Ramsay and Carla Denyer (who is stepped down as co-leader.) And she mentions Zack Polanski’s contribution too, as deputy leader.
She talks about Green campaigning in parliament:
Who is it in parliament that’s standing up, calling for taxing wealth fairly? Who is it in parliament that’s standing up, calling out our country’s complicity and genocide in Gaza? Who is it in parliament who’s been there at the forefront of the campaigns to reverse the universal credit and Pip bill, to reverse the winter fuel cuts, to campaign for social housing targets – a particular campaign of mine – to fix social care, to have the real climate action that we so desperately need to tackle the climate crisis.
On all of those things. Greens have been at the centre of these debates in parliament, holding government to account in connecting the frustration indeed.
She says that is the leadership she and Ramsay offer.
We’re starting.
Danny Keeling, coordinator of the London Green party, is chairing.
He introduces Zack Polanski and Ellie Chowns.
The hustings will start at 6.30pm, we’ve now been told.
Key developments in Green party leadership contest so far
Here are some of the main stories or articles from the Green party leadership contest so far.
Novora Media reports that the Green party membership has grown by at least 8% since Zack Polanski launched his campaign.
Polanski launches a well-received campaign video with an attack aimed at Nigel Farage denouncing “racist narratives about strangers destroying everything” as “bullshit”.
Adrian Ramsay finds it hard to admit he likes Polanski in an interview with LBC’s Iain Dale.
Adam Ramsay, a journalist and Green party member (not related to Adrian), explains in a Guardian article what he thinks the contest is about, and why he prefers Polanksi.
Some longstanding members, Corbynites joining to “back Zack” is scary. Some fear Polanski’s mooted ecopopulism, worrying it will attract people who “aren’t really Green”. Much of this fear isn’t about policy difference, but culture. Older fundi-types who liked Corbyn’s socialism but feared that the movement behind his leadership was a “cult of personality” now have similar worries about Polanski. Chowns and Ramsay, on the other hand, exude the kind of gentle, conflict-averse, consensual leadership style that the fundis used to advocate (sitting uncomfortably with their hyper-realo insistence on the centrality of Westminster). In other words, the Green party division isn’t really so much about left and centre as it is about differing ideas about political power and how to wield it.
For me, Polanski takes the realo acceptance of the need for charismatic leadership and blends it with the fundis’ belief in extraparliamentary organising and social movements.
Polanski says he would be open to working with Jeremy Corbyn’s new party.
But Ellie Chowns plays down the prospect of working with the Corbyn party.
Ramsay says the party should avoid the “posturing of populist politicians like Farage”, in what HuffPost interprets as a dig at Polanski.
Ramsay and Chowns tell the Guardian that Polanski’s “eco-populism” would prove polarising, divisive and likely to put off more moderate voters.
Zack Polanski faces Ellie Chowns at Green party leadership hustings
Hi, I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up again from Nadeem Badshah, and blogging from Hoxton Hall in north London, where chairs are being set up into a handsome auditorium for leadership hustings for the Green party of England and Wales. (The Scottish Green party is a separate entitity.) It is due to start at 6.15pm.
There have been quite a few hustings already, and four more are scheduled, but we have not covered the contest much on the Politics Live blog, and we certainly have not reported from a hustings. So tonight it is going to get full attention for two hours.
The Greens are a smallish party, they normally hold leadership contests every two years, often it ends up as a co-leader job share and, because members have much more control over policy and other matters then they do in other parties, the leader or leaders have surprisingly little power. “The primary purpose of the Green party leader is to provide visionary leadership and direction for the party,” is how the party explains it.
But this contest is attracting more interest than most previous Green party leadership elections have. That is partly because the party is stronger than it has ever been before. It has four MPs at Westminster, more than 800 council seats and it is regularly picking up about 10% support in opinion polls.
Where do they go next? That is the other reason why the contest deserves more attention, because the choice facing members is sharper, and spikier, than it normally is in a party with collegiate, herbivore instincts.
On the one side, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns are running on a ‘more of the same [success]’ platform. They are both MPs, Ramsay is a current co-leader and they say they can “can inspire teams, grow trust and deliver results”. They were both meant to be here tonight, but Ramsay can’t be here because of a family reason. And it is a job share; they have not always appeared together at hustings.
And they are up against Zack Polanski who is running on an “eco-populist” platform promising what is crudely seen as out-Faraging Reform UK from the left. He is a skilled social media performer, and is also widely seen as the favourite - although, because the Greens are a small party (around 65,000 members), they are hard to poll, and no one knows for sure.
Labour has settled claims brought by 20 people, mainly former staffers, who featured in a leaked internal document about antisemitism in the party, with the costs estimated to be close to £2m.
The settlements include a payout to Labour’s former elections chief Patrick Heneghan, who was falsely accused in the dossier of having tried to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of winning the 2017 general election.
It is understood the payouts will total just under £1m, but with Labour paying both sides’ legal fees the cost to the party will be near to £2m.
This puts the total legal costs for Labour connected to the dossier at more than £4m, with court documents released last year showing the party spent £2.4m on its own eventually abandoned lawsuit pursuing five separate staffers it accused of being behind the leak.
The 800-page document was produced under Corbyn’s leadership. It was billed as being part of a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the rights watchdog’s inquiry into antisemitism within Labour, but it was never submitted.
It was anonymously leaked and included hundreds of private WhatsApp messages from named staff detailing hostility towards Corbyn and his allies. The report said factional hostility contributed to an ineffective handling of antisemitism complaints, and set out claims of anti-black racism, Islamophobia, sexism and bullying.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The party welcomes the resolution of this matter.”
The SNP is playing an “old tune” on independence, Scottish Green leadership candidate Lorna Slater said.
SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney announced on Monday that a majority for his party at next year’s election should be enough to secure a second vote on independence, as it was for the first in 2014.
Slater – who was launching her campaign for re-election as party co-leader in Edinburgh – said she does not expect an SNP majority next May.
“This is an old tune that the SNP have been playing,” she told the PA news agency.
“There are several pro-independence parties in the Scottish Parliament – the Greens have been there all along, from the beginning.
“John Swinney, I think, is being a little disingenuous.
“We had a successful pro-independence majority with the Bute House Agreement that the SNP decided to end.”
In response, SNP MSP Keith Brown said: “Successive governments have shown that Westminster does not work for Scotland.
“It is clearer than ever that independence is the only change that will actually work for Scotland.
“The strategy set out by the First Minister puts independence at the heart of next year’s election campaign.”
The co-founder of Palestine Action can bring a legal challenge to the home secretary’s decision to ban the direct action group under anti-terrorism laws, a high court judge has ruled, writes Haroon Siddique and Rob Evans.
Lawyers for Huda Ammori argued at a hearing in London last week that the proscription of Palestine Action, which places it on a par with groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, was an “authoritarian and blatant abuse of power”.
They warned that it was already having a chilling effect on freedom of speech and protest, highlighting dozens of arrests of people for demonstrating since the ban came into force on 5 July, a number believed to have risen above 200.
The Home Office argued that a judicial review was not the correct avenue to challenge the ban, given that parliament had designated the POAC (Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission) precisely for that purpose.
Giving his ruling on Wednesday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said that he had heard evidence of “cases where individuals have been subjected to police action for expressing various kinds of support for the Palestinian cause”. The judge cited the case of Laura Murton, who the Guardian revealed had been threatened with arrest by armed officers for holding a sign saying “Free Gaza” and a Palestinian flag.
Resident doctors have squandered the “considerable goodwill” they had with Government after staging five days of strikes across England, the health secretary said.
Wes Streeting said he “never left” the negotiating table, and that he is willing to meet with the resident doctors committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) to resume talks in their ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.
In a letter to BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, Streeting said: “Thank you for your letter of 29 July inviting me to get back to the negotiation table, which is ironic because I never left.
“I am ready to continue the conversation from where you left it.
“As I made clear last week, the decision taken by your committee to proceed with strike action over the past five days was deeply disappointing and entirely unnecessary given the seemingly promising discussions we had to explore areas where we could make substantive improvements to doctors’ working lives.
“My letter to your committee, drafted following extensive engagement with you both, outlined a path to agreeing a package that could bring an end to this dispute.
“Had you and your committee not rushed to strike, we would be in the second of the 3 weeks I asked for to work intensively together to improve the working lives of your members.”
There has been acrimony for weeks between NHS bosses and the BMA, which has argued that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-9 than the rest of the population.
Former Tory MP Adam Holloway says he is defecting to Reform UK because he thinks it is the party to 'rescue' Britain
Reform UK has announced that another former Tory MP, Adam Holloway, is joining the party.
Holloway, who was MP for Gravesham from 2005 until 2024, said he was joining Nigel Farage’s party because he thought it was best placed to rescue Britain.
A former soldier, Holloway said:
There comes a moment for many soldiers — and most politicians — when you realise the battle you think you’re fighting isn’t the one your leaders are waging. Many in Britain feel we may already have passed the point of no return. Our cities grow less cohesive, the country effectively bankrupt.
That moment came for me watching Kemi Badenoch tell Trevor Phillips there are real differences between Reform UK and the Conservatives. She was right. The difference is the Reform leadership and voters grasp the scale of our national peril and back a party serious about addressing it.
I joined the Army to serve the country, not the institution. The same applies now. If we want to rescue Britain, we must be honest about who’s still willing to fight for her.
Holloway joins a growing group of former Tory MPs who now support Reform, including Jake Berry, a former Tory chair, David Jones, a former Welsh secretary, and Andrea Jenkyns, who is now Reform’s mayor for Greater Lincolnshire.
Responding to the news, Farage said:
I’m delighted to welcome Adam Hollway to Reform UK. His bold move shows that we are the only serious option in Kent and is testament to the fantastic work our councillors are delivering across the region.
Nadeem Badshah is taking over the blog now for a bit. I will be back before 6pm, when I will be covering the Green party leadership hustings.
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The SNP has said that the government should recognise a Palestinian statement immediately, instead of making that conditional upon Israel not meeting certain conditions.
In a statement, Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
Whilst it is obviously welcome that the UK Labour government are finally indicating that they are prepared to recognise Palestine – placing those conditions under the control of Israel is shocking and undermines the peaceful, equitable two state solution that we all wish to see.
Israel should receive no recognition or reward for stopping the starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza – they should be sanctioned for starving innocent children in the first place.
Keir Starmer’s plan has effectively placed the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state in the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu – the head of an Israeli government that is inflicting a genocidal assault on Gaza.
Palestine Action co-founder wins permission to challenge ban
The co-founder of Palestine Action can bring a legal challenge to the home secretary’s decision to ban the direct action group under anti-terrorism laws, a high court judge has ruled. Haroon Siddique has the story.
Streeting invites BMA to resume talks with government next week to avert further strike by resident doctors
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has urged the BMA to resume talks with the government early next week in the hope of averting a further strike by resident doctors.
Their five-day strike in England ended at 7am this morning and, in an open letter to the co-chairs of the BMA resident doctors committee, says:
I was critical of my predecessors when they closed the door to the junior doctors committee. My door remains open to the hope that we can still build the partnership with resident doctors I aspired to when I came in a year ago and, in that spirit, I am happy to meet with you early next week.
He says he is replying to a letter inviting him back to the negotiating table, which is says “is ironic because I never left”.
In the letter, Streeting also restates his line that, while the government is not prepared to increase its pay offer, it is willing to offer other concessions that would benefit doctors.
I came into office hoping to reset the relationship between government and the resident doctor profession. Through this government’s actions working with the BMA, we have improved pay, conditions and career progression. I am serious about improving the working conditions of staff working in the NHS and restoring value after over a decade of neglect. I have been clear that while we cannot move on pay, this government is prepared to negotiate on areas related to your conditions at work, career progression and tangible measures which would put money in your members’ pockets.
According to a Telegraph report, Basem Naim, who served as minister for health in the Hamas administration running Gaza between 2007 and 2012, has welcomed the news that the UK is on course to recognise the Palestinian state. “International support for Palestinian self-determination shows we are moving in the right direction,” Naim is quoted as saying.
'Feeling was mutual' - Nicola Sturgeon hits back after Trump calls her 'terrible'
Donald Trump has delivered an unprompted attack on former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, describing her as a “terrible first minister”, PA Media reports. PA says:
Trump made the comments on Air Force One as he travelled back to Washington following his five-day visit to Scotland.
During his stay, he had a two-hour dinner on Monday with current first minister John Swinney, alongside Keir Starmer.
Swinney, who also met Trump on Tuesday morning, said he had used the talks to push the president to exempt Scotch from US tariffs.
Speaking to reporters on his flight home, the president was asked if he offered to drop the levy on Scotland’s national drink.
He replied: “No. We really didn’t discuss it much. But I have a lot of respect for him [Swinney].”
Journalists began asking questions again before Trump interjected: “I didn’t have a lot of respect for the woman that preceded him – I thought she was terrible as a first minister of Scotland. But I think John is doing a very good job of first minister.”
A source close to Sturgeon responded: “Trump’s lack of respect for women is hardly news. That said, the feeling was entirely mutual.”
Sturgeon added on her Instagram account: “Feeling was mutual, Donnie. Forever proud to represent all the things that offend your view of the world.”
Updated
Here is the full statement issued today by Adam Wagner KC, a lawyer representing relatives of the people held hostage by Hamas who are either British, or who have strong British links. (See 11.52am.)
In an interview with the World at One, Wagner said the relatives “don’t understand” how Keir Starmer’s policy on Palestinian state recognition was supposed to encourage a ceasefire because, by incentivising Hamas not to agree to stop the fighting, “it seems to do the opposite”.
He said:
I don’t see how it will help encourage Hamas, who are the other party to any ceasefire deal, to sign up to a deal, because if they just wait it out until September, then that will prevent the conditions being fulfilled which the UK said would not lead to a state being recognised.
Asked why he thought Keir Starmer changed his mind, Wagner said he was not taking. a position on that. He said the relatives he represented had different views.
Updated
Today the Guardian has published an interview with Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who are running on a joint ticket to be co-leaders of the Green party, attacking their opponenent in the leadership contest, Zack Polanski.
In response, Polanski has posted a message on social media claiming this has encouraged more people to join the party to vote for him.
Quite wonderful an attack article on our vision for the party is resulting in loads more sign ups!
Turns out lots of people want a Green party relentlessly focused on climate & nature whilst recognising inequality is at the heart of all our problems.
Updated
39% of people think Britain is in worse state now than ever before, poll suggests
According to new polling from More in Common UK, 39% of people believe that Britain is in a bad state now and “worse than at any other points in our past”. Only 23% of Labour supporters think this, but amongst Reform UK supporters it’s 59%.
The polling was carried out for the New Statesman and, in an article featuring it, George Eaton says general pessimism about living standards, the state of the public services and immigration is making some figures in the Labour party increasingly convinced of the need for radical change.
The divide inside Labour is partly a classic left-right split: the biggest rebellions in this parliament have been over welfare cuts. But it is also increasingly a conservative-radical one. Conservatives argue that, given time, Starmer’s patient, incrementalist strategy will work: higher living standards, shorter NHS waiting lists and lower immigration will pave the road to a second term. Radicals, by contrast, argue that something fundamental must change if Labour is to succeed. From the left, figures such as Andy Burnham, who has undergone a Tony Benn-like reinvention, champion electoral reform and a multi-party future. From the right, heterodox cabinet ministers privately favour a dramatic overhaul of the state and the welfare system – with the latter shifted from need towards contribution.
Intriguingly, Eaton says Tony Blair is in the radical camp.
There is one figure whose name recurs with surprising frequency during discussions of Labour’s fate: Tony Blair, still immersed in the minutiae of British politics and regularly receiving groups of MPs at his institute’s office. Those who have recently met Blair say he believes “the country wants someone to take it by the scruff of the neck, lead it and shake things up” as Donald Trump has in the US. Should Starmer prove incapable of doing so, the warning was clear: things will only get worse.
Farage under investigation by parliament's standards watchdog over undisclosed complaint about registration of interest
Rowena Mason is the Guardian’s Whitehall editor.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has been put under investigation by the standards commissioner over the registration of a financial interest.
It is not clear what the complaint is about, but a spokesperson for Farage said: “Following a complaint from a member of the House of Lords, the commissioner for standards is doing his job.”
A number of other MPs are facing similar inquiries including Clive Lewis, James McMurdock, Peter Prinsley, Diane Abbott and Cat Eccles.
What commentators are saying about PM's decision to put UK on course to recognising state of Palestine
Labour MPs have generally been positive about Keir Starmer’s position to put the UK on a path towards recognising Palestinian statehood in September. And that is no surprise; the Tories are right to argue that, at least in part, Starmer was motivated by internal party politics. With France committed to recognition, and the situation in Gaza getting increasingly catastrophic, Starmer was under increasing pressure from his ministers and backbenchers to shift.
But the decision has not impressed commentators. Here is a roundup of what some of them are saying.
Hussein Agha and Robert Malley argue in an article for the Guardian that recognising a Palestinian state won’t help Palestinians. They say:
Having defied Israel, ignored its protestations, alienated its people, offered a prize to its foes, France and European governments that follow in its lead – as France hopes they might at a UN conference this week – might conclude that, for now, their work on behalf of the Palestinians is done. They will expect from them deep gratitude. They might feel relieved of any obligation to exert pressure on Israel where it really hurts and really matters – to impose tangible consequences, demand accountability, or enforce sanctions if it does not stop the war, end the siege, halt its settlement enterprise. Instead, the pressure will turn on the Palestinians to prove they are worthy of this munificent offering.
All this for what? The most absurd part of this endeavor is that it is taking place on behalf of what has become an imaginary goal. Worthy as it was, the quest for a two-state solution has come to an end. It succumbed to Israeli intransigence, Palestinian ambivalence, American fecklessness, and the rest of the world’s impotence. It failed under far more auspicious circumstances – when settlements were significantly fewer, Israel’s territorial encroachment less intrusive, Palestinian and Israeli politics more promising, popular backing on both sides greater. It failed when it might have had a chance and today it has none. Starmer illustrated the nonsense of his position even as he argued for it, justifying recognition of a Palestinian state by pointing to dwindling prospects of its coming about. The recurrent recitation of support for two states, whether by Joe Biden yesterday, Macron and other European officials today, Arab leaders at all times, is an empty lie that will not become truth by virtue of repetition.
Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, says on social media the logic of the announcement is a mess.
Recognition of a state is normally an acknowledgement of the rights of a people to nationhood not a bargaining chip. But Starmer has ended up with a presentational mess. Eg Starmer it seems will not recognise Palestine if Israel met the conditions required by Starmer including the requirement that “Israel commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution.” [and as a result a Palestinian state]. ????
Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator says this announcement creates “perverse incentives”. He explains:
If recognition is contingent on Israel achieving a ceasefire, then Hamas has every reason to prolong the conflict rather than agree to the proposals already agreed on by Israel. In fact, in recent rounds of negotiations, it has been Hamas, not Israel, that has rejected US- and Egypt-brokered proposals for truce. Britain’s move risks reinforcing the calculus that terrorism and intransigence are politically productive strategies. Why compromise when war advances your diplomatic standing? If Hamas holds out until September Britain will reward them recognition. If they agree to a ceasefire, then that recognition will most likely fall away.
Jake Wallis Simons, a former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, said this was “the darkest day in British foreign policy since the invasion of Iraq”. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he says:
Ramallah has repeatedly turned down offers of a state that satisfied 100 per cent of its demands. In 2008, for instance, Ehud Olmert offered 94 per cent of the West Bank with land swaps for the remainder, East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital and the Old City turned over to international control, not to mention a tunnel between the West Bank and Gaza and the right of return for quotas of diaspora Palestinians.
The Palestinians missed the opportunity. Why? Because their government was playing a long game to destroy the Jewish state using both the bullet and the ballot, both the suicide bomb and international diplomacy.
I’m not just talking about Hamas. Even the regime in Ramallah pays monetary rewards to anybody convicted of terrorism and failed to condemn October 7 until last month.
George Eaton at the New Statesman says Starmer may derive little benefit from his decision to shift on Palestine.
Keir Starmer found himself politically cornered on Palestine. More than a third of the cabinet, including Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood, privately – and in Wes Streeting’s case, publicly – pushed for faster recognition of statehood. Over 130 Labour MPs signed a letter to the Prime Minister demanding the same. Only a month after the welfare vote debacle, Starmer could not afford to become isolated from his party once more (recall how Tony Blair’s support of Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon hastened his downfall) …
Not for the first time in Starmer’s premiership, it’s a nuanced position that has managed to upset both sides for different reasons. “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Netanyahu declared last night, a critique echoed by Nigel Farage and much of the British right …
Meanwhile, a striking array of left and liberal figures, including Ed Davey, Jeremy Corbyn and the Greens’ likely next leader Zack Polanski all level the same charge at Starmer: that he is treating Palestinian statehood as a “bargaining chip”.
John Woodcock, the former Labour MP who is now a crossbench peer, says in the Sun this is a mistake. He says:
As a former chair of Labour Friends of Israel, I have long campaigned for a “two-state solution” to replace the perpetually unstable, messy situation that has developed since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
But right now? Definitely not.
Sir Keir must urgently think again, or he will squander what little influence Britain has on this dire situation.
Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph says the UK recognising a Palestinian state is not likely to have much impact. He says:
Britain and France once planned to recognise Palestine only after a peace deal. Officials now hope unilateral recognition will press Mr Netanyahu into negotiations and bolster the moderate Palestinian leadership of Mr Abbas against Hamas.
That outcome seems doubtful. Britain’s already modest influence over Mr Netanyahu will likely shrink further; Israel might even retaliate by expanding settlements or even annexing parts of the West Bank.
Relations with Washington could also suffer. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, called French recognition “a slap in the face to victims of Oct 7”.
Donald Trump was even more dismissive, saying Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to recognise Palestine “won’t change anything”.
The US president is likely to view Sir Keir’s move similarly: a gesture that appeases Labour’s left and signals virtue, but ultimately carries none of the weight that the Balfour Declaration did when Britain wielded far greater global influence.
Zack Polanski’s ‘eco-populism’ could put voters off Greens, opponents say
The Green party risks going into reverse if they elect Zack Polanski as leader, his two opponents have said, arguing that his promised brand of “eco-populism” would prove polarising, divisive and likely to put off more moderate voters. Peter Walker has the story.
British relatives of hostages still held by Hamas ask PM to rule out Palestinian state recognition until they're all freed
Harriet Sherwood is a senior Guardian journalist and former Jerusalem correspondent.
Lawyers representing the British families of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas have warned that the UK government’s intention to recognise a Palestinian state risks disincentivising the release of captives.
In a statement, they say:
The UK has said that it will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees a ceasefire. But the risk is that Hamas will continue to refuse a ceasefire because if it agrees to one this would make UK recognition less likely.
Families represented by the lawyers have asked the prime minister to “confirm, unambiguously, that Hamas will not be rewarded and that the UK will not take any substantive steps until all the hostages are free.”
Starmer's Palestine policy 'moral failure' that rewards terror, says British/Israeli former Hamas hostage
A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than a year has said that Keir Starmer is “not standing on the right side of history” after his pledge to recognise the Palestinian state, PA Media reports.
In a post on Instagram, Emily Damari said:
Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France or Poland?
This is not diplomacy — it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister.
As a dual British-Israeli citizen who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, I am deeply saddened by Prime Minister Starmer’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. This move does not advance peace —it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy.
By legitimising a state entity while Hamas still controls Gaza and continues its campaign of terror, the Prime Minister is not promoting a solution; he is prolonging the conflict. Recognition under these conditions emboldens extremists and undermines any hope for genuine peace. Shame on you.!!!
In a statement today, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which has been representing the families of people held hostage by Hamas since the 7 October attack, said recognising Palestine before all the hostages were returned would be a mistake. It said:
Recognizing a Palestinian state while 50 hostages remain trapped in Hamas tunnels amounts to rewarding terrorism. Such recognition is not a step toward peace, but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes.
Updated
PM's move 'first meaningful step in addressing deep injustice in Balfour declararation', says Palestinian Mission to UK
Here is the statement from the Palestinian Mission to the UK on Keir Starmer’s announcement yesterday. Husam Zomlot, head of the mission, says the announcement “represents the first meaningful step in addressing the deep injustice rooted in the colonial-era Balfour declaration and the decades of systematic denial of Palestinian rights that followed”.
That is a reference in particular to what David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said in his statement to the UN about this yesterday. He said:
108 years ago, my predecessor as British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, signed the Declaration that bears his name.
It helped lay the foundations for a homeland for the Jewish people.
And Britain can be proud of that.
Our support for Israel, its right to exist and the security of its people is steadfast.
However, the Balfour declaration came with the solemn promise “that nothing shall be done, nothing which may prejudice the civil and religious rights” of the Palestinian people as well.
Colleagues, this has not been upheld and it is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.
Updated
Tories accuses Starmer of agreeing to recognise Palestinian statehood to 'appease' Labour MPs
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, was doing a media round this morning. The Conservatives have been strongly critical of Keir Starmer’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood (unless Israel meets conditions which would be near impossible for Benjamin Netanyahu to accept) and Patel’s comments in part echoed what the Israeli government has been saying. (See 10.50am.) But the Tories are also claiming that this shows Starmer is too weak to stand up to his own MPs.
Patel told GB News:
We’ve just seen the government just really appease its back benches, saying that they will recognise Palestine, but do so without a plan, and that is why this is a very serious issue.
I think it’s a major problem for the British government and also for Britain’s standing in the world. We’ve seen this terrible situation of humanitarian crisis in Gaza for months upon months now, and Britain simply hasn’t been leveraging its influence.
It hasn’t been at the negotiating table. It’s not really done anything in terms of making sure that we’re stepping up to release the hostages, ensure that Hamas has no future role to play.
All the British government has done is effectively issue condemnations to Israel, which I think has emboldened Hamas, and that has not helped anybody. It’s certainly not helped the people in Gaza. It’s not helped aid get into Gaza.
Israeli PM accuses Starmer of rewarding 'monstrous terrorism' and claims Palestinian state would put UK at risk
For the record, here is the full text of what Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, posted on X last night in response to Keir Starmer’s announcement about recognising the state of Palestine.
Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.
A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.
Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.
Updated
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Joe Coughlan.
Mostly today I will be covering more reaction to yesterday’s news about the UK recognising the state of Palestine (the all-but-certain outcome of Keir Starmer’s announcement yesterday, given the Israeli reaction to the conditions he has set.)
There is not much in the diary today, although at 2pm we will be getting the decision on whether Palestine Action can proceed further with its legal challenge against the Home Office’s decision to proscribe it as a terrorist organisation.
And at 6pm I will be covering a Green party leadership hustings in London. On Friday voting opens in the contest which is between Zack Polanski, the party’s current deputy leader, who is a member of the London assembly, and the two MPs Adrian Ramsay, the current co-leader, and Ellie Chowns, who are running on a joint ticket. The other current co-leader, Carla Denyer, is stepping down.
The contest has not had much coverage yet on his blog, but tonight’s hustings are set to run of for two hours, and I will be covering the debate in detail.
Alexander also doubled down on her cabinet colleague Peter Kyle’s accusation against Nigel Farage for opposing the Online Safety Act.
UK technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has become embroiled in a row with Nigel Farage after saying the Reform leader was on the side of child abusers such as Jimmy Savile when it came to online safety.
Farage called for an apology from Kyle, saying the comparison was “disgusting”. He claimed it was not unreasonable to call for the repeal of the Online Safety Act that came into force last week.
Alexander told Times Radio on Wednesday:
I think the point that Peter was making is that predators today, sexual predators today, operate online. And if social media had been around in the same way as it is today, when Jimmy Savile was committing those crimes against young children, then it’s inconceivable that Jimmy Savile wouldn’t have been in the online space as well.
It is a fact that Nigel Farage and the Reform Party have said that they would repeal the Online Safety Act in its entirety, when of course some of the most significant provisions of that legislation is to protect children from predators, from seeing pornographic material on their phones and on their computers. And so Nigel Farage doesn’t like the truth of the matter when my colleague explains to him the importance of the Online Safety Act and why he is so wrong to be wanting to repeal it.
Alexander said the home secretary will leave “no stone unturned” in getting to the bottom of allegations against police by grooming gangs victims:
I know that the home secretary Yvette Cooper will make sure that we get to the bottom of these allegations and any steps that need to be taken to make sure that a thorough, robust investigation happens.
I know that my colleagues in the Home Office will make sure that no stone is left unturned to get to the bottom of these allegations. And these issues are constantly kept under review.
Heidi Alexander said on Wednesday the decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September is about making sure it comes at the time of “maximum impact” and denied that it’s a “reward for Hamas”.
The transport secretary told Times Radio that plans to recognise to Palestinian statehood are “not at all” about appeasing Hamas.
She said:
Not at all. This isn’t about Hamas. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s been the longstanding position of my party and indeed this government when we came to power last year that we would recognise the state of Palestine at a point in time when it would have maximum impact.
She added that the timing gives Israel eight weeks to respond:
The moment to act is now. We know that the actions of the Israeli government over the last couple of months are actually making the prospects of that two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and Palestinian, viable sovereign Palestinian state, is making that further and further away.
We’ve seen, haven’t we, on our television, scenes that whole tracts of Gaza have been razed to the ground. There’s the effective annexation of the West Bank happening.
Children are starving in Gaza and their parents are being shot at and killed...We think it’s right that we need to ratchet up the pressure on Israel to lift the restrictions that they have on aid getting into the country. And to say to Israel, if you want to be sat at the table to shape the enduring peace that is so desperately needed in the region, you’ve got eight weeks to act in advance of the UN General Assembly.”
The population of England and Wales is estimated to have grown by more than 700,000 in the year to June 2024, the second largest annual numerical increase in more than 75 years.
Almost all of this increase was due to international migration, with natural change – the difference between births and deaths – accounting for only a small proportion.
There were an estimated 61.8 million people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up 706,881 (1.2%) from 61.1 million in mid-2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
It is the second largest numerical jump since at least 1949, when comparable data begins, behind only the rise of 821,210 that took place in the preceding 12 months from mid-2022 to mid-2023.
Updated
Five-day resident doctors' strike ends as Streeting stands firm against pay rises
Health secretary Wes Streeting has said talks between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA) could lead to improvements in the working lives of resident doctors but he has repeatedly said there is no more money for pay.
The comments come after the five-day strike across England, which ended at 7am on Wednesday.
BMA leaders have said that there must be some pay discussions during talks and launched a “linked dispute” with the government over a lack of places for doctors in training, which could lead to common ground during future talks.
Mr Streeting said:
We made the decision to cancel as little planned care as possible this year, and thanks to their tireless work it’s clear that far more patients have got the care they need than in previous years.
That said, all industrial action comes with a level of disruption, and I feel angry and frustrated on behalf of those patients who didn’t get the service they expect due to these strikes.
That is why my door is open to the BMA leadership to resume the talks we were having last week, before they walked out.
After a 28.9% pay rise over the last three years, we simply cannot go further on pay this year, but there are real improvements to resident doctors’ working lives we can work hand-in-hand to make – from training positions to career progression and beyond.
After over a decade of being let down, resident doctors deserve better than their current working conditions, ebbing support from the public, and a seemingly intractable position from the BMA leadership, especially given a majority of them didn’t vote for this strike action.
I stand ready to continue our discussions. Our shared ambitions will reap rewards for both patients and staff but they can only be achieved if we work together.”
Hospitals were ordered to press ahead with as much pre-planned care as possible during the strike.
Details on the number of appointments, procedures and operations postponed as a result are expected to be published later this week.
Updated
Thornberry also denied the suggestion that the UK is “irrelevant” and said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “completely lost it” overnight after Keir Starmer’s statement.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the chair of the foreign affairs committee was asked whether the UK is irrelevant if it makes demands of Israel that are then ignored.
She said:
No, we are not irrelevant.
If we were completely irrelevant why has Netanyahu completely lost it overnight?
Later referring to the Israeli leader’s statement, she said:
It’s not exactly a considered, diplomatic, careful statement ... it’s a furious statement.
We are long-term allies, we remain long-term allies, but not with this far-right government, not with the way that it is behaving.
With Israel, and with the Israeli people, who are, you know, who are led by a government that is not doing what they want. They want peace.
Emily Thornberry has said it is “great news” that the UK has “finally” said it plans recognise a Palestinian state.
The chair of the foreign affairs committee told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the UK has to “get on to the front foot” and “kickstart a process”.
Asked whether prime minister Keir Starmer’s announcement was the right move, she said:
It’s great news. I’m so pleased that we finally got there.
This is a major change in British foreign policy, and it’s absolutely the right thing to do.
Asked why it was the right thing, she said:
Because what we’ve been doing until now is sitting close to the Americans and hoping that somehow or other there will be a peace process, and in the middle of that, we will be able to recognise Palestine.
We have to, I think, get onto the front foot and I think what we need to be doing is exactly what the Government has decided they’re going to do, which is to kickstart a process.
And that begins with recognition ... a statement of intent. This is where we want to get to.
Starmer faces pushback following Palestinian statehood announcement
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is facing pushback after announcing the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if the crisis in Gaza is not brought to an end.
The prime minister said the UK could take the step of recognising Palestine’s statehood in September, before a major UN gathering.
The UK will only refrain from doing so if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term, peace process over the next two months.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, must immediately release all remaining Israeli hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and “accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza”, Starmer also said.
But the PM’s announcement rewards “Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”, his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed.
In a statement on social media site X, Israel’s prime minister added: “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails.”
Donald Trump, who met Starmer on Monday and discussed measures to end the starvation faced by Palestinians in Gaza, suggested the pair had not talked about recognising Palestinian statehood.
But Trump said he did not mind the PM “taking a position” on the issue.
This was a contrast with his reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France will recognise Palestine at the UN general assembly in September, which the US president said would make no difference.
In other news:
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander rejected the idea that Keir Starmer’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state is gesture politics. She told Times Radio on Wednesday that the decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September is about making sure it comes at the time of “maximum impact” and denied that it’s a “reward for Hamas”.
Nigel Farage is “happy for there to be a free for all on the internet”, Alexander said on Sky News on Wednesday, as she appeared to double down on her fellow Cabinet minister’s claim that the Reform UK leader is on the side of “people like Jimmy Savile”. Technology secretary Peter Kyle also accused Mr Farage of being on the side of “extreme pornographers” on Tuesday.
Keir Starmer spoke with a series of world leaders throughout Tuesday, including Netanyahu, and King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose nation is leading efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza. About 20 tonnes of aid have been dropped by the UK and Jordan in recent days, according to foreign secretary David Lammy.
High-level representatives at the UN conference on Tuesday urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave “unwavering support” to a two-state solution. The New York Declaration, issued by the conference, sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Foreign states are becoming bolder in their attempts to silence dissidents in the UK and the government must take stronger action, parliamentarians have warned. In a report published on Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said transnational repression had increased in recent years, with foreign states using online harassment, lawsuits and physical violence to intimidate people in the UK.
