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<\/p>\nSir Keir Starmer is braced for a Labour revolt in a House of Commons vote next week over his stance on the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n
The Labour leader faces the possibility of MPs being given a vote on calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which could see a huge rebellion against him.<\/p>\n
Both the SNP and a group of Labour backbench rebels are attempting to force a Commons vote on the issue by tabling amendments to the King’s Speech.<\/p>\n
It threatens to prompt a fresh meltdown in Labour ranks, with Sir Keir having so far defied huge pressure on him to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n
The Labour leader has already suffered a front bench resignation and open defiance from other shadow ministers and backbench MPs over his stance.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of local Labour councillors have also protested against Sir Keir’s position.<\/p>\n
But, during a visit to the West Midlands yesterday, the Labour leader refused to budge.<\/p>\n
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Sir Keir Starmer was quizzed about the deep splits within Labour during a question-and-answer event at the offices of the Express & Star newspaper in Wolverhampton<\/p>\n
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The Labour leader faces the possibility of MPs being given a vote on calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza , which could see a huge rebellion against him<\/p>\n
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Smoke rises following strikes on the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Friday, as seen from Sderot in Israel<\/p>\n
Sir Keir was quizzed about the deep splits within Labour during a question-and-answer event at the offices of the Express & Star newspaper in Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n
He was asked if he would reconsider his position on calls for a ceasefire following the resignation of Imran Hussain as a shadow minister.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir replied:\u00a0‘I have set out my position in relation to a ceasefire.<\/span><\/p>\n ‘There was obviously an awful terrorist attack on the 7th of October by Hamas, which nobody would support or could support.<\/p>\n ‘With the killing of men and women, children, babies, and the taking of 200 hostages who are still being held in tunnels in Gaza.<\/p>\n ‘So, to say to Israel \u2013 while its citizens are still being held \u2013 ‘you should have a ceasefire’ in my view is inconsistent with saying it’s their right to try and get their hostages back.<\/p>\n ‘If hostages were taken from this country, we would be doing everything we could to get them back.<\/p>\n ‘We wouldn’t take kindly to somebody saying ‘I am afraid we don’t think you should be doing that’.’<\/p>\n The Labour leader reiterated his view – shared by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other Western countries – that there should be a ‘humanitarian pause’ in the fighting to allow water, food, fuel and medicines into Gaza.<\/p>\n Sir Keir also tried to shrug off the divisions within his party by suggesting demands for a ceasefire stemmed from a shared desire to end the loss of innocent lives.<\/p>\n He added: ‘In terms of the differences in the Labour Party\u2026 I am not going to pretend they are not there. They all actually come from the same place.<\/p>\n ‘When we see those images of innocent people struggling, dying, in Gaza, we all want it to stop. That’s a human emotion.’<\/p>\n The SNP intends to seek a vote on its King’s Speech amendment, which calls on the UK Government to ‘join with the international community in urgently pressing all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire’.<\/p>\n The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Mr Sunak and Sir Keir ‘cannot just sit on their hands’ while ‘collective punishment’ takes place.<\/p>\n A backbench Labour-led amendment seeking an immediate ceasefire – supported by ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former shadow ministers John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott – has also been tabled.<\/p>\n It will be for Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide if any of the amendments are selected for consideration, which would pave the way for a vote.<\/p>\n The King’s Speech debate comes to an end on November 15. It is at this point that votes usually take place.<\/p>\n Sir Keir declined to say if he would grant a free vote to shadow ministers on the issue.<\/p>\n ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ he said. ‘We haven’t got to the end of the debate yet.<\/p>\n ‘We don’t know what the amendments are, and we certainly don’t know what’s going to be called forward for a vote.<\/p>\n ‘So I am not going to speculate as to a vote that may or may not happen next week.’<\/p>\n