“The millions-strong Palestine solidarity movement has transformed the political space, championing the rights of the Palestinian people and challenging British complicity, finally securing a step in the right direction after decades of complicity”
By Jess Barnard
This year, Keir Starmer mournfully marked the “end of his political journey” in Parliament but for millions of us, his declaration that Israel had the “right” to cut off power, food and water to two million people in Gaza will never be forgotten. Those words will echo in public memory for years to come and, to his shame, be etched on history’s page.
Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people has now continued for almost three years. The British Government led by Starmer has been complicit in Israel’s crimes. It permitted the export of arms to Israel during an offensive in which over 20,000 children have been killed, authorised British surveillance flights over Gaza, provided intelligence to the Israeli military and continues to provide diplomatic cover for Israel.
This approach was a moral outrage and a devastating departure from the Labour movement’s internationalist traditions; it was also a political disaster. Starmer’s relentless kicking of Labour’s progressive base was obviously self-defeating to most of the members I speak to, but this reality was lost on Starmer, and those around him, until it was too late.
Labour’s position on Gaza was a factor, often a significant one, to a majority of voters and members who abandoned Labour, most commonly for more progressive parties with stronger records on Palestine. It contributed to the drubbing in Gorton and Denton and to calamitous local election results in which many hardworking Labour councillors paid the price for the leadership’s failings.
Andy Burnham has recognised the need to put clear water between himself and Starmer’s record on Gaza, with his apology and the acknowledgement that Labour “got it wrong”. Ed Miliband has announced a series of new measures in response to the continued settler attacks and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, including restrictions on future arms licences and a ban on goods from illegal settlements. These measures make a significant break from many decades of impunity offered to Israel, but they fall short of our obligations under international law.
This shift in policy would not have been possible without the resolve of millions of people across the country, who have marched against the genocide, contacted their MPs, carried out protests, and refused to be silent over the past three years, but they are a long way from the action required of us.
Britain, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, is committed to take action to prevent the crime of genocide as soon as we become aware of a serious risk of it; it does not say that we must wait years for international courts to determine if genocide has occurred before taking action. The threshold for this serious risk was clearly met years ago, from the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that there is a ‘plausible risk of genocide’ to the Independent Commission of Inquiry’s conclusion this summer that Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people is ongoing. Therefore, it is clear under our international obligations that we must take much stronger action, including a full military and arms embargo, ensuring that no weapons or parts made on British soil are used against the Palestinian people.
The immediate backlash to Burnham’s comments and to Miliband’s announcements shows the immense pressure to carry on with business as usual, just as Keir Starmer seamlessly picked up the baton from Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Government. The Telegraph wasted no time branding Burnham a “global laughing stock” and Miliband has faced a barrage of attacks across the media. Meanwhile Israel has responded to the announcements with a ban on a select number of MPs.
This is just a taster of the scale of attacks supporters of Palestine, or even people sympathetic to Palestinians, face, and we can expect an uphill struggle to secure the policy commitments which will end the decades-long British support for Israel, while crimes against Palestinians continue. That is precisely why the work of the Palestine solidarity movement matters; organised public protest and organised solidarity within the party are the vital counterweight to the status quo, and will be needed in the years ahead, and we can’t afford complacency.
The millions-strong Palestine solidarity movement has transformed the political space, championing the rights of the Palestinian people and challenging British complicity, finally securing a step in the right direction after decades of complicity, but it must continue if we are to secure meaningful change from the new leader: filling the streets, organising in our Constituency Labour Parties, trade union branches and local communities. It is with this movement’s continued resolve that we will finally see an end to Britain’s support for Israel and the crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.
Last year, alongside hundreds of members and every affiliated trade union, we fought to secure a landmark victory at the Labour Party conference. Together we passed a motion recognising that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and called on the Government to do everything in its power to prevent it. This included fully suspending the arms trade with Israel and freezing the UK–Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement. Starmer, of course, refused to act on the vote; Andy Burnham must not make the same mistake.
The movement for Palestinian liberation inside and outside the Labour Party is not going away. We will win the change Palestinians need by organising at every level available to us. The task before us is enormous, but the path ahead is clear: keep organising until Palestine is free.
- Jess Barnard is a members’ representative on the Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) and the former chair of Young Labour. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Join Jess at the Labour & Palestine and Arise Festival fringe event during Labour Party Conference on Saturday 26 September: Justice for Palestine: Defend International Law, Sanctions Now! Free and open to all.
- Labour Outlook has published a special TUC and Labour Party 2026 Conference edition – read it here.
