Labour is facing calls for action from a large group of its Muslim MPs, councillors and mayors, who believe Keir Starmer is mishandling the crisis in Gaza.
In the first-ever survey of the party’s Muslim representatives, 77% of respondents said they believed the government should end all UK arms exports to Israel and 84% supported sanctions against the Israeli government, the Labour Muslim Network (LMN) said. Nearly all respondents – 97% – said they supported the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine.
The results are based on an online questionnaire circulated by the LMN between 2 April and 16 May. There were 221 respondents out of 477 eligible Labour Muslim MPs, councillors and elected mayors.
The findings lay bare the political difficulties the government faces over its response to the war between Israel and Hamas and the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Starmer told the Commons on Wednesday that Gaza was facing “dark days” and he vowed to consider “further action”. Last month the government suspended free trade talks with Israel and hit West Bank settlers with sanctions.
Ministers have come under pressure to recognise Palestine as a state jointly with France this month. More than 140 UN countries including Spain, Ireland and Norway recognise the Palestinian state, but the UK doing so would be of major significance given that the region was under British control until 1948.
Labour committed in its manifesto to recognising a Palestinian state as part of a peace process resulting in a two-state solution. The government has also been considering imposing sanctions against two hard-right Israeli ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The third lever that ministers have at their disposal is the export of arms to Israel, although according to government figures less than 1% of Israel’s defence imports come from the UK. In the autumn, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, suspended 30 arms export licenses, from a total of 350.
Campaigners and charities have launched a judicial review over allegations that the government acted unlawfully in continuing to sell F-35 parts and components to a global pool, when some of those components might be used by Israel in Gaza in a way that the government regards as a breach of international law.
Labour MPs on the left of the party called for stronger action in the Commons on Wednesday. Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East, said Israel’s newly introduced measures for aid delivery in Gaza were “inhumane, foster desperation and endanger civilians”.
He said: “We are appalled by repeated reports of mass casualty incidents in which Palestinians have been killed when trying to access aid sites in Gaza. Desperate civilians who have endured 20 months of war should never face the risk of death or injury to simply feed themselves and their families. We call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events for the perpetrators to be held to account.”
In March, Lammy told the Commons he believed Israel had broken international law by blocking aid to Gaza, but a day later he was contradicted by Downing Street.
The war in Gaza cost Labour votes in areas with large Muslim communities in the election last summer, particularly after an LBC interview in which Starmer appeared to say Israel had the right to withhold water and electricity in Gaza.
Pro-Gaza independents defeated Labour candidates in Dewsbury and Batley, Blackburn, Birmingham Perry Barr and Leicester South and came close in several other constituencies, including Wes Streeting’s Ilford North.
The LMN survey found that 58% of Labour Muslim representatives thought the government had represented British Muslims badly so far.
The results also recorded dissatisfaction with the Labour party, with 66% of those surveyed saying they did not believe Muslim representatives were treated equally compared with others in the party. A third of Muslim Labour representatives said they had directly experienced Islamophobia and more than half said they did not believe the party took Islamophobia seriously.
A spokesperson for the LMN said its report was a “call to action” for “a renewed commitment to Muslim representation, rooted in equality and justice”. “Our Labour party cannot credibly claim to be an anti-racist movement while ignoring the testimonies and experiences of its own Muslim elected officials,” they said.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour party is proud of the diversity of our party, including the increase in the number of Muslim MPs in the parliamentary Labour party and having the first Muslim lord chancellor in Shabana Mahmood, and the first Muslim mayor of London in Sadiq Khan.
“We are the party of equality and we take any complaints of discrimination, including Islamophobia, seriously. All complaints are assessed in line with our complaints policies and procedures through our independent complaints system.”
