Starmer is coming under pressure from his party to recognise a Palestinian state. [Getty]
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to declare a plan for formally recognising the state of Palestine this week in response to building pressure within his party over Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
The UK leader is not expected to follow in French President Emmanuel Macron’s footsteps with a unilateral declaration but will instead set out several conditions for recognition as part of a wider Israel-Palestine peace plan, The Telegraph reported on Monday.
This will reportedly include a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the release of the remaining Israeli captives held by Hamas.
The prime minister is convening cabinet ministers for an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where he will set out his plan to end the conflict.
More than a third of Labour MPs signed a letter last week calling on the government to immediately recognise Palestine, while more than half a dozen cabinet ministers are pressing him to act.
They reportedly include Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, according to UK media reports.
London mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar have also urged the prime minister to back Palestinian statehood.
The UK government has insisted that it will only recognise a Palestinian state “at the point of maximum impact”.
London has in recent weeks dialled up its rhetoric against Israel’s genocidal conduct in Gaza but is yet to impose any meaningful sanctions on the government.
In recent months, it has halted some arms sales, frozen trade negotiations and slapped sanctions on far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
However, it has not indicated whether it would be willing to sanction other political and military leaders, impose a full arms embargo, or cut trade ties – moves which legal experts and rights monitors say are required to end the country’s complicity in the genocide.
UN conference
This comes as dozens of countries meet in New York to discuss Palestinian statehood at a two-day UN conference.
Chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, the event is intended to increase momentum towards the establishment of a Palestinian state and a final settlement of the decades-old conflict.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected to outline the UK position at the conference on Tuesday.
Macron on Thursday announced that he would officially recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September and urged other Western allies to follow in his footsteps.
The move was fiercely rejected by Israel and condemned by members of the Trump administration.
Other close allies of Israel – such as Germany, Italy and Australia – have since ruled out unilaterally recognising Palestine.
Luxembourg is “leaning towards” recognition, its foreign minister said on Friday.
‘Robust plans’
Starmer called the cabinet meeting after discussing his plans with US president Donald Trump on Monday.
The prime minister “shared the plans he is working on with other European leaders to bring about a lasting peace”, No.10 said following the discussions in Scotland.
Starmer agreed with Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to create “robust plans” for a long-term solution to the conflict in a joint call over the weekend. The three countries, known as the E3, called on Israel to lift all restrictions on aid getting into Gaza and end the “appalling” humanitarian situation.
Trump – whose administration is opposed to a Palestinian state – said that the issue would not complicate his relationship with the UK.
“I’m not going to take a position. I don’t mind him taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now,” he told reporters ahead of his meeting with Starmer.
The Trump administration has threatened to penalise countries that take “anti-Israel actions” following the UN conference and this week denounced it as a “slap in the face to the victims of October 7 and a reward for terrorism”.
Saudi Arabia: No Palestinian state, no normalisation
The Trump administration’s rejection of a Palestinian state is likely to complicate its long-standing goal of persuading Saudi Arabia to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
The kingdom has long insisted that it will only normalise with Israel if it allows Palestinians to establish a state.
Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan reiterated its position at the UN conference on Monday.
“Only through addressing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination can we have sustainable peace and real integration in the region,” he said.
Even if the US were to back a two-state solution, there is little political support for a Palestinian state within Israel, where most political parties support the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly backed extending Israeli sovereignty over the land in a symbolic vote in the Knesset last week. Smotrich pledged this week to annex the territory during the current government’s term, which expires in October 2026.
