Twenty Council Labour Groups have issued statements backing an immediate Gaza ceasefire. Seven Labour councillors in Blackburn have resigned, taking the total number of Council resignations to 34. This comes after 13 shadow ministers defied Starmer and publicly backed a ceasefire, leaving the leadership’s demand for compliance from shadow ministers, MPs and councillors in tatters.

Yet the leadership position remains unchanged, despite the horrific scenes in Gaza. Momentum has called Keir Starmer’s position “sickening” and “a stain on the Labour Party.”

Keir Starmer is facing a crisis of authority in the Labour Party as Labour councillors, Mayors, MPs and even shadow ministers defy him to back an immediate ceasefire, amidst a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, provoked by Israeli war crimes. 

As Gaza endures an unprecedented level of Israeli bombardment, shadow ministers including Jess Phillips and Naz Shah, have broken ranks and backed a ceasefire, with Shah criticising Israel’s “disproportionate attacks on a civilian population”, saying “this is not defence”. Thirteen shadow ministers have now publicly backed a ceasefire, in a major breach with collective responsibility. The full list is Yasmin Qureshi, Imran Hussain, Mary Foy, Jess Phillips, Naz Shah, Kim Leadbeater, Andy Slaughter, Afzal Khan, Rushanara Ali, Rachel Hopkins, Sarah Owen, Paula Barker and Florence Eshalomi.

On Sunday, another five Labour councillors in Blackburn resigned, taking the total to 34. Meanwhile, 20 Labour councils and groups have published statements supporting a ceasefire.

Broxtowe Labour Group of Councillors put out a strong statement criticising the Labour leadership’s position on Gaza. Calling for an immediate ceasefire, it says: “We are disappointed by the leader of the Labour Party’s failure to clearly reject Israel’s collective punishment of civilians in Gaza.”

The Luton Labour Group of Councillors have also called for “an immediate ceasefire”, as has Leeds Labour Group and Glasgow Labour Councillors too. 35 Labour Councillors in Brent have also called for an immediate ceasefire ae well as “an end to the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which directly violates international law and human rights.”

The full list includes nine Greater Manchester councils, Leeds, Glasgow, Broxtowe, Brent (35/49), Tower Hamlets, Preston, Welwyn Hatfield, Sutton and Cheam, Kirklees, Leicester and Luton, alongside over 300 individual Labour councillors in a Labour Muslim Network open letter.

It comes after Labour’s most senior Muslim politicians, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar, ignored Starmer and backed a ceasefire on Friday, followed by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Starmer initially took an authoritarian internal line, with the leadership telling Labour councils and groups to seek central approval for statements, while attempting to ban them and MPs from pro-Palestine protests, and enacting a de facto ban on local parties discussing the crisis.

However, his authority has sapped away as outrage grows at Labour’s continued support for Israel’s barbarous tactics, despite the Palestinian death toll rapidly rising and an international consensus forming, with charities, human rights organisations and the UN all coming out for an immediate ceasefire. 

MPs and Councillors have defied these diktats en masse, while leadership loyalist Peter Kyle MP indicated on the BBC’s Sunday with Victoria Derbyshire that shadow ministers would not be sacked for defying Starmer on the issue. Many CLPs have defied also the ban and passed motions.

The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy has produced a Model Emergency Motion in support of an immediate ceasefire:
This CLP, concerned about the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the unfolding humanitarian situation in Gaza, supports the call for an immediate ceasefire. We urge our Party’s front bench to give its full support to this call for an immediate ceasefire and to press the government to do likewise.
We also urge all Labour MPs to sign the Early Day Motion 1685, in support of an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Labour MPs Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Andy McDonald, John McDonnell, Zarah Sultana and Bell Ribeiro-Addy all addressed the 500,000-strong Palestine solidarity demonstration in London on Saturday, alongside Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and various trade union leaders. John McDonnell MP spoke for many when said that “those who remain silent are complicit in [Israel’s] war crimes” and criticised calls for a ‘pause’.

Meanwhile the Early Day Motion (EDM) launched by Richard Burgon, Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, has been signed by 100 MPs from across the Commons. More than 50 Labour MPs have backed a ceasefire.

Thousands have used Momentum’s lobbying tool to pressure Labour’s MPs and  the leadership to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The tool, which is being sent out to tens of thousands of Labour members and supporters via email and social media, analyses Labour MPs’ commitment to an immediate ceasefire and offers a template to contact those who have failed to back one.

A poll last week found that the overwhelming majority of British voters back an immediate ceasefire, including 89% of Labour voters. Just 3% of Labour voters are opposed to a ceasefire, demonstrating that Keir Starmer is isolated within the country as well as his own party.

Kate Dove, Momentum Co-Chair, said: “Every day that Keir Starmer fails to back a ceasefire is another black mark against his name, and a moral stain on the Labour party. It is clear that Starmer is wholly out of touch with his own party, as well as the British public, in his opposition to a ceasefire and support for more Israeli bombing of the Gaza strip. As our councillors, mayors, MPs and voters all unite behind a ceasefire, how can the Labour Leadership support more killings of innocent Palestinian civilians?”

Image: London demonstration October 28th. c/o Labour Hub.