A Cabinet minister has rejected the idea that Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state is gesture politics, as the Prime Minister faced pushback from Israel over his decision.
Heidi Alexander told the BBC the decision is “about the Palestinian people”.
Sir Keir announced on Tuesday the UK could take the step of recognising statehood in September, ahead of 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.
The move has been criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who claimed it “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”.
Asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether it is gesture politics and a case of Sir Keir changing his mind over an issue after pressure from his backbenches, the Transport Secretary said: “I’m sorry, that’s just not true.
“This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about getting aid in to those starving children.”
In a statement from Downing Street on Tuesday after an emergency Cabinet meeting on Gaza, Sir Keir said the UK’s “message to the terrorists of Hamas is unchanged but unequivocal: they must immediately release all of the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm, and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza”.
Asked directly whether the release of hostages by Hamas is an explicit condition of Palestinian recognition, Ms Alexander told Radio 4: “We will be making an assessment in September and we expect Hamas to act in the same way as we expect Israel to act.”
She later added: “We’re giving Israel eight weeks to act. If they want to be sat at the table to shape that enduring peace in the region, they must act.”
Sir Keir had been coming under pressure from MPs to recognise statehood, and last week more than 250 cross-party members signed a letter calling on him to act.
Among the signatories was Dame Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP and chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
She described Sir Keir’s statement as “great news” and denied the suggestion that Britain is “irrelevant”, telling the BBC Mr Netanyahu “completely lost it” overnight in the wake of the Prime Minister’s comments.
Dame Emily was asked on Today whether the UK is irrelevant if it makes demands of Israel that are then ignored.
My statement on the recognition of Palestine⤵️ pic.twitter.com/7Pru5aBGc9
— Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) July 29, 2025
“No, we are not irrelevant,” she said.
“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.”
The move came the day after the Prime Minister met Donald Trump at one of his golf courses in Scotland.
The US president suggested the pair had not talked about recognising Palestinian statehood, but he said he did not mind the PM “taking a position” on the issue.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said it is “not the right time” to recognise a Palestinian state and urged ministers to set out a plan to “ensure that Hamas is not rewarded”.
She told Sky News: “What we would rather see is a proper, meaningful plan for the recognition of Palestine, in the right way, where the future governance of Palestine is absolutely mapped out. This Government has not played a role in doing that, and I think that’s where we should be.”
