By threatening to recognise Palestine, Starmer shows how easily Labour's left wing MPs can push him around
NOT for the first time, Sir Keir Starmer has buckled under pressure from his own backbenchers.
In a televised address the Prime Minister said that, unless Israel meets a list of improbable demands, he will join France in recognising Palestine in September.
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Hamas — the party of terrorists responsible for the October 7 atrocity, who still hold 50 Israeli hostages — was given no such ultimatum.
Labour's left-wing MPs are happy. After last month's benefits revolt, once again they have shown how easily they can push Sir Keir around.
Meanwhile, the monsters of Hamas are rewarded for their barbarism with a propaganda coup.
But, beyond alienating our Israeli allies and infuriating President Trump, what will Starmer's gesture politics actually achieve?
It certainly doesn't bring a ceasefire any closer.
Or help to break the grip on power still held by Hamas, which continues to steal and sell on vital aid supplies.
Indeed, these callous thugs couldn't care less if ordinary Palestinians starve to death.
Sir Keir should have concentrated on the best way of urgently delivering food.
Instead, he has shown himself to no longer be in control of his party on foreign as well as domestic affairs.
US blasts 'reckless' Macron as France is first G7 nation to recognise Palestine state - in 'face slap' to Oct 7 victims
Price is wrong
BRITAIN'S economic woes get worse daily.
We are now mired in the worst of all worlds: Rising inflation is wiping out wages of those still in work, while thousands of others are losing their jobs as businesses struggle to pay hefty tax rises.
Whatever predictions the IMF made yesterday, growth remains negligible.
That means Brits are feeling the pinch more than ever.
Not least at the supermarket, where the British Retail Consortium says food inflation is likely to hit six per cent by the end of the year.
Labour's disastrous jobs tax Budget continues to squeeze ordinary families.
There is a way out of this doom loop.
Cutting taxes, setting business free and putting money back in people's pockets.
Don's drill rap
ONCE again Donald Trump has nailed it.
Labour's decision to ignore vast reserves of oil and gas under the North Sea does indeed make no sense.
It is madness to ban new offshore drilling while pouring billions in subsidies into uneconomic wind farms which produce power that cannot be stored.
When the wind doesn't blow, it leaves us relying on imports of electricity — or the very eco-unfriendly method of shipping in foreign gas.
Tapping into our own , would help us keep the lights on.
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STV News
7 minutes ago
- STV News
What would UK recognition of Palestine mean for crisis in Gaza?
However things unfold over the next month, what we witnessed yesterday was a moment of history. Keir Starmer's announcement that the UK is prepared to recognise an independent state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly meeting in September has been awaited, at least by some in the region, for decades. That's how long the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict at the heart of the Middle East has been in circulation. Lately, though, the term has felt hollow and lopsided. There aren't two states at the negotiating table. When the Middle East peace process felt vibrant and hopeful, there were at least the makings of a Palestinian state. But peace is now a distant memory, and Gaza is in ruins, and starving. So the Prime Minister's statement may have been symbolic, but it was still significant. There are now two members of the UN Security Council prepared to recognise Palestine – with the UK joining France in stating its intentions. As the former colonial power in the region, and the closest ally of the United States to do so, the UK's statement carries the greatest weight. It's striking that Starmer chose to call his emergency cabinet meeting and make that statement, a day after meeting US President Donald Trump in Scotland. The US does not want its allies recognising Palestine – indeed, Trump pulled his negotiators out of ceasefire talks just days ago, saying Hamas doesn't want a deal. But there has been a diplomatic and political shift taking place, as distressing images of starving children have emerged from Gaza, and warnings from aid agencies have grown about a looming, deadly famine. The fact that Trump was willing to publicly disagree with America's ally, Israel, on the steps of his Turnberry golf resort, in front of the world's TV cameras, and say that children were going hungry in Gaza, showed just how far global opinion has shifted. The UK Government now sees an opening to use recognition of Palestinian statehood as leverage, with Israel, but primarily with the US. Even before the threat of recognition was confirmed, the Israeli Government had begun loosening its grip on the flow of aid into Gaza. Under American pressure, the hope is that more aid will be allowed through – but according to aid agencies, it will have to be much more, to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. At the same time, it's also true that yesterday's announcement was about domestic politics. A third of MPs have signed a letter demanding recognition of Palestinian statehood, most of them Labour MPs. Privately, a number of cabinet ministers are reported to agree. The Prime Minister couldn't ignore that pressure forever. The SNP and Liberal Democrats argue that Palestinian statehood shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip; on the other side of the debate, the Conservatives and Reform agree with the Israeli Government that the announcement is a reward for Hamas and an incentive to hang on to the remaining Israeli hostages. For Starmer's announcement to not just be symbolic – for it to be a return to a peace process in the Middle East, and the start of a two-state solution – a great deal else will have to happen. The Prime Minister set conditions for both sides for British recognition of a Palestinian state to happen, that neither will be happy to agree to: abandoning claims on West Bank land for the Israelis; for Hamas, disarmament and its effective disbanding. From where things stand now, those demands don't seem realistic. Ultimately, the decision over how this conflict unfolds, and whether it ends, rests with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Increasingly, world powers are coming to the conclusion that recognition of Palestine is the only way to get his attention. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Reuters
8 minutes ago
- Reuters
Zambia wants to extend IMF loan programme by 12 months
LUSAKA, July 30 (Reuters) - Zambia's government wants to extend its International Monetary Fund programme another 12 months beyond its current expiry at the end of October, a cabinet statement said on Wednesday. The copper-rich Southern African nation has been trying to get its public finances back on track with IMF support after running up a huge debt pile. Its 38-month Extended Credit Facility was approved in August 2022 for an initial $1.3 billion but was later increased to $1.7 billion. So far about $1.55 billion has been disbursed. The cabinet statement said Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane had been authorised to ask the IMF for the 12-month extension. "The objective is to consolidate the gains achieved during the programme period into 2026" and help support economic reforms, the statement said. A finance ministry spokesperson declined to elaborate when contacted by Reuters. Zambia defaulted on its external debt in 2020 after years of unsustainable borrowing but battled its way to a restructuring deal with its primary creditors last year. It is still seeking to agree restructuring terms with smaller creditors including Afreximbank. The IMF's board last week approved a $184 million disbursement to Zambia after completing the fifth programme review.
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Freed British-Israeli hostage accuses Starmer of ‘moral failure' over move to recognise Palestine
A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months has accused Keir Starmer of 'moral failure' after he set the UK on course to recognise a Palestinian state. Emily Damari, 29, who was released in January, said the prime minister was 'not standing on the right side of history' and should be ashamed. Her criticism came as lawyers representing British families of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas warned the UK government's intention to recognise a Palestinian state risked disincentivising the release of captives. Starmer said on Tuesday that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government abided by a ceasefire and committed to a two-state solution to the conflict. The UK government also said Hamas must release all hostages immediately, disarm, sign up to a ceasefire and accept it would play no role in the government of Gaza. In a post on Instagram, 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.' Damari was shot in the leg and hand when she was dragged from her home in the kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October. She was taken from the safe room of her house with her friends Ziv and Gali Berman, twin brothers who are still being held in Gaza. Since her release as part of a ceasefire deal, Damari has campaigned for the release of about 20 hostages believed to be still alive and for the bodies of about 30 dead hostages to be returned to their families. In a separate statement, Adam Rose and Adam Wagner, who have represented relatives of hostages who are either British or have close British ties since 7 October 2023, said the UK had made the hostages a 'bargaining chip'. They said: 'The risk is that Hamas will continue to refuse a ceasefire because if it agrees to one this would make UK recognition less likely.' The families they represented had asked Starmer 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'. They added: 'For almost two years, the British hostage families have encouraged the UK to use any leverage it has to help secure the release of their loved ones. They have sat in 10 Downing Street with successive prime ministers and foreign secretaries who have looked them in the eyes and promised the UK will do everything in its power to secure the immediate and unconditional release of their loved ones, whose detention is unambiguously a war crime. 'We are concerned that the UK's proposal risks delaying the release of the hostages. This is because 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. 'The families are therefore deeply concerned that the UK's approach risks disincentivising Hamas from releasing the hostages. This risks doing exactly what the prime minister's statement says the UK will not do: reward Hamas for its heinous and illegal acts.'
