
Starmer to convene urgent Cabinet meeting on Gaza to set out pathway to peace
Sir Keir shared plans he is working on with France and Germany to 'bring about a lasting peace' with US President Donald Trump when they met in Scotland, Downing Street said.
And he plans to share details with Arab states and other key allies in the coming days.
Sir Keir is facing mounting calls to recognise Palestinian statehood immediately.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'This week, the Prime Minister is focused on a pathway to peace to ensure immediate relief for those on the ground, and a sustainable route to a two-state solution.
'We are clear that the recognition of the Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if, but it must be one of the steps on the path to a two-state solution as part of a wider plan that delivers lasting security for both Palestinians and Israelis.'
Amid international alarm over starvation in Gaza, Israel announced at the weekend that it would suspend fighting in three areas for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid delivery.
The UK confirmed it was taking part in airdrops of aid into the territory.
Aid agencies have welcomed the new measures but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
Sir Keir said that the British public is 'revolted' at the scenes of desperation in Gaza as he appeared alongside Mr Trump at his Turnberry golf course on Monday.
'It's a humanitarian crisis, it's an absolute catastrophe.
'Nobody wants to see that. I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they're seeing on their screens, so we've got to get to that ceasefire.'
The US president hinted at sticking points in US-led negotiations over a peace deal, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas had become 'very difficult to deal with' in recent weeks.
He suggested this was because they only held a small remaining number of Israeli hostages.
Sir Keir has likened the plan he is working on with France and Germany to the coalition of the willing, the international effort to support Ukraine towards a lasting peace.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the plan would build 'on the collaboration to date that paves the way to a long-term solution on security in the region'.
Sir Keir is meanwhile facing calls from a growing number of MPs to recognise a Palestinian state immediately.
More than 250 cross-party MPs have now signed a letter calling for ministers to take the step, up from 221 on Friday.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Monday dismissed the idea that there is a split at the top of Government over when to recognise a Palestinian state, saying 'we all want it to happen'.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is among those to have signalled a desire for hastened action, calling for recognition 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise', while Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Government wants to recognise a Palestinian state 'in contribution to a peace process'.
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Daily Mail
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JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK: Trump's assessment resonates not just with me but with much of Scotland. Sturgeon really WAS terrible
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The Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Sun
Starmer wasn't elected to virtue signal on Palestine – it was to fix these very real problems HERE
WHEN Sir Keir Starmer was elected Prime Minister, did anyone remember to tell him which country he was supposed to be running? I only ask because he seems to be blissfully unaware of the fact that he's meant to be in charge of THIS country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and not spending his time pontificating about whether any other country should exist or not. 9 9 9 That would certainly explain why the British PM chose to call an emergency Cabinet meeting this week to discuss an urgent issue of great import which turned out to have nothing to do with this country at all. Instead, after the ministerial meeting, Sir Keir pompously strode to the No10 podium and announced to the world that Britain would recognise a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel agreed to abide by key conditions, such as allowing more food aid into Gaza and signing up to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. 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Yet there was no emergency Cabinet meeting about any of the myriad problems back here in Blighty. Does the Prime Minister really believe there is so little that needs to be done at home? Awkward moment Trump blasts 'nasty' Sadiq Khan for 'terrible job'… before Starmer interrupts: 'He's a friend of mine!' After all, there are no end of items in his 'in-tray' that could merit an emergency Cabinet meeting. He could start with immigration — both legal and illegal. Yet again, we've had new official figures showing that almost all of a 700,000 increase in our population in just one year came not from births but from new arrivals. 9 9 9 And once again we saw boatloads of thousands of illegal migrants, mostly undocumented men of fighting age, coming to our shores to lap up the free hotels, the handouts, the black market jobs and the near-certain promise that they will never be deported. Did Sir Keir and his Cabinet ministers have anything to say about the growing protests outside asylum hotels spreading across the country? Starmer, Angela Rayner and their mates might even want to talk about the cost-of-living crisis still hitting millions of families who face prices, bills and rents going up... And what about having an emergency Cabinet meeting about the rising tide of crime after a report revealed that offences in London have rocketed by 86 per cent in the past ten years under Labour Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan? Didn't ministers wonder why only one in 20 muggings in our capital city ever results in a prosecution? Or why so many grooming gangs have yet to be prosecuted? Or is that just not worth a few minutes of their time during the summer recess? Maybe they might also want to discuss the chaos in our NHS after another five days of strikes by junior doctors, with nurses and GPs likely to follow suit, while millions of patients sit on waiting lists. Starmer, Angela Rayner and their mates might even want to talk about the cost-of-living crisis still hitting millions of families who face prices, bills and rents going up while Chancellor Rachel Reeves takes even more money in taxes out of their hard-earned wages. Indeed, they might want to wonder where all the jobs have gone since the employer National Insurance hike, or why we have millions of people languishing on welfare, many claiming mental health issues, or why hundreds of thousands of children are now routinely absent from school. Tackle the very real problems at home What about an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss why we are a country where it rains half the year, yet we face hosepipe bans most summers and, despite being an island surrounded by North Sea oil and gas, we have some of the highest energy bills in the world, with the threat of blackouts thanks to the folly of Net Zero? They could even have a chat about why, whether it's planes, trains or automobiles, we can't get anywhere in this country any more thanks to technical failures at air traffic control, or the wrong leaves on the line or the one million-plus potholes on our roads. Frankly, if you can't work out how to fill potholes, run the NHS or stop dinghies crossing the English Channel, I'm not sure why you'd think you're up to solving one of the most intractable conflicts of the past century... Or perhaps they could ponder why we don't have the Armed Forces or the military hardware to defend our own nation, let alone any of our allies, despite the growing instability in the world. Every single one of these issues — and there are countless more — would be worthy of an emergency Cabinet meeting. Yet it is the plight of the Palestinian people that concerns our PM, not that of the people he is supposed to represent. Frankly, if you can't work out how to fill potholes, run the NHS or stop dinghies crossing the English Channel, I'm not sure why you'd think you're up to solving one of the most intractable conflicts of the past century in a far-flung region halfway across the world, but there we are. Someone needs to break it to the Prime Minister that he wasn't elected to virtue signal on the world stage about a nation ABROAD that doesn't yet exist. Instead, he should spend his time doing the job he is paid to do and tackle the very real problems hitting ordinary people AT HOME. 9 9 9