Labour will call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza voting for a motion in the Commons on Wednesday.
A Labour spokesperson confirmed that the party has tabled an amendment to the SNP’s opposition day motion.
When MPs last voted on a Gaza ceasefire, it caused huge problems for Labour. At the time, Keir Starmer was in favour of a “humanitarian pause”, but 56 of his MPs rebelled and a handful of shadow ministers resigned to join the SNP in voting for a ceasefire.
But Labour’s position has moved on – at its conference in Glasgow at the weekend, Scottish Labour backed a motion in favour of an immediate ceasefire, supported by leader Anas Sarwar.
In his speech in Glasgow, Keir Starmer said a “ceasefire that lasts” must “happen now”.
On Tuesday, a Labour spokesperson said: “Our amendment calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, in line with our allies. We need the hostages released and returned. We need the fighting to stop now. We need a massive humanitarian aid programme for Gaza. And any military action in Rafah cannot go ahead.
“There needs to be an end to violence on all sides. Israelis have the right to the security that the horror of October 7 cannot happen again.
“We want the fighting to stop now. We also have to be clear on how we prevent the violence starting up again. There will be no lasting peace without a diplomatic process that delivers a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state.”
On Wednesday morning, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it was “deeply disappointing” he had not heard from Labour ahead of his party’s motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Flynn said there had been no contact between Labour and SNP whips despite Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar saying that there had been.
Nearly 20,000 more Palestinians have died in Gaza since the last Westminster vote; we now know that more than half of all buildings in Gaza City, which had a population of one million, have been damaged or destroyed.
Rafah, which is sheltering more than a million Palestinians forced out of their homes elsewhere in Gaza, is now threatened with direct Israeli assault.
Labour’s ceasefire amendment in full:
That this House believes that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences and therefore must not take place; notes the intolerable loss of Palestinian life, the majority being women and children; condemns the terrorism of Hamas who continue to hold hostages; supports Australia, Canada and New Zealand’s calls for Hamas to release and return all hostages and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which means an immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides, noting that Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence and that Israelis have the right to the assurance that the horror of 7th October cannot happen again; therefore supports diplomatic mediation efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire; demands that rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief is provided in Gaza; demands an end to settlement expansion and violence; urges Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures; calls for the UN Security Council to be meet urgently; and urges all international partners to work together to establish a diplomatic process to deliver the peace of a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state, including working with international partners to recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to rather than outcome of that process, because statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.
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