More members – eleven at the latest count – of Keir Starmer’s Shadow front bench team are breaking ranks and defying the leader to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

As another huge demonstration in London – the third in as many weeks – marched in support of Palestine, Naz Shah MP, Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction, tweeted: “What we are seeing is not defence, it is disproportionate attacks on a civilian population, I continue to call for a ceasefire to stop the killings of innocent civilians. We cannot be silent.”

Rushanara Ali MP, Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business, also issued a statement calling for a ceasefire. She said: “The air strikes on Gaza have already claimed the lives of over 7000 innocent civilians, the majority of whom are women and children.  According to Save the Children, a child is dying every 15 minutes. There is no justification for the withholding of essential supplies; water, electricity, medicine and food from the people of Gaza. As highlighted by the United Nation Secretary General, ‘it is a clear violation of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza.’”

Shadow Minister for Devolution and the English Regions Paula Barker MP, Shadow Local Government Minister Sarah Owen MP and Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Rachel Hopkins MP have also indicated support for Labour Friends of Palestine’s call for an immediate ceasefire, as has Shadow Minister for Exports Afzal Khan MP. They join frontbenchers Yasmin Qureshi and Imran Hussain who also back a ceasefire, as does Mary Foy MP, Angela Rayner’s parliamentary private secretary, who is also bound by the principle of collective responsibility.  

Jess Phillips MP, Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, Andy Slaughter MP, Shadow Solicitor General, and Kim Leadbetter, a Labour Whip, are the latest front benchers to call for a ceasefire.

On the eve of Saturday’s march, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar were the latest senior Labour figures to break with the leadership’s inhumane line and to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, along with Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, his Deputy and ten Greater Manchester Labour leaders.

Welwyn Hatfield Labour Councillors join the many Labour Councillors calling for a ceasefire. The entire Labour Group voted unanimously to do so. Sutton and Cheam CLP and Sutton Labour Group Councillors have also called for a ceasefire, likewise Tower Hamlets Labour Group in east London, as has an all-members meeting of Romford CLP  in a detailed and balanced motion on the conflict.

Image: c/o Labour Hub