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<\/picture><\/span>UK Parliament<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe Labour party remains united despite a series of frontbench resignations over the Israel-Gaza war, the shadow defence secretary has said. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ten of the party’s frontbenchers quit to vote for an SNP motion in the Commons calling for a ceasefire in Gaza against the wishes of Sir Keir Starmer. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But John Healey said “the vast majority” of Labour’s front bench and the party’s MPs had not rebelled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said Labour was “not a protest party”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Jess Phillips, Afzal Khan and Yasmin Qureshi were among shadow ministers who quit their roles to back an amendment to the King’s Speech tabled by the SNP calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A Labour motion, tabled by Sir Keir, instead backed a pause in the conflict to allow in more humanitarian aid. Both were heavily defeated. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sir Keir had stuck to his “principled position” because Labour was “not a protest party”, Mr Healey said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “On the front benches a small number had to resign while the vast majority backed humanitarian pauses – the best way in these circumstances now trying to relieve the suffering – but the deeper unity of the Labour Party was clear last month,” he added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He said it was “always sad to lose frontbenchers”, but “I know all of them wrestled with this difficult decision, I know all of them have said that they want to see Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street and will work with us to secure a Labour government.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sir Keir had signalled before the vote that MPs holding a frontbench role would be sacked if they backed the ceasefire call.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms Phillips, who announced she was quitting her role as shadow domestic violence minister ahead of the vote, told the BBC: “I don’t feel like I am rebelling against the Labour Party”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In an interview with Radio WM, she said: “I feel like I am taking a position with my heart, my head and my constituents. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “There is no animosity between me and Keir Starmer. I will work every single day to ensure a Labour victory and, as I said in my resignation letter, I am incredibly proud of the work the Labour Party is proposing to do in government about the thing I care the most about in politics and that is violence against women and girls.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a statement after the vote, Sir Keir said he regretted “some colleagues felt unable to support the position tonight”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “But I wanted to be clear about where I stood, and where I will stand,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Israel had suffered “its worst terrorist attack in a single day” at the hands of Hamas on 7 October, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “No government would allow the capability and intent to repeat such an attack to go unchallenged.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The vote was on an SNP amendment to a government motion on its plans for the year ahead, presented in the King’s Speech last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It called for an end to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and urged “all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It was defeated by 125 votes to 294, with 56 Labour rebels joining other opposition parties against the Conservatives who opposed it. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There are 29 Labour MPs in the shadow cabinet – none of whom rebelled – but around half of the party’s 198 MPs hold some kind of frontbench position, including as whips in charge of party discipline. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour, like the Conservative government, the United States and the European Union, is calling for “humanitarian pauses” to help aid reach Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Compared with a formal ceasefire, these pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They are implemented with the aim of providing humanitarian support only, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Last week, the US said Israel would begin to implement daily four-hour military pauses in areas of northern Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Keir Starmer: Labour leader hoping for keys to No 10<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Starmer suffers major rebellion over Gaza vote<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Labour divisions deepen over Gaza ceasefire stance<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Published at Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:55:46 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labour united despite Gaza resignations, says John Healey UK Parliament By Sam Francis Political reporter The Labour party remains united despite a series of frontbench resignations over the Israel-Gaza war, the shadow defence secretary has said. Ten of the party’s frontbenchers quit to vote for an SNP motion in the Commons calling for a ceasefire… Continue reading Labour united despite Gaza resignations, says John Healey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-politics","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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