https://arab.news/4898f
- National leader Keir Starmer has faced pressure over his stance on issue
- But Scottish leader Anas Sarwar says parties ‘ultimately have the same position’
LONDON: The Scottish Labour Party has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, BBC News reported.
Party leader Anas Sarwar has been calling for a ceasefire for several months, in a split with the head of the national party, Keir Starmer, who said he wanted a “sustainable end” to the Israel-Hamas war.
Starmer has faced significant pressure from the party ranks over his stance.
Now, Scottish Labour’s two members of parliament in Westminster — Michael Shanks and Ian Murray — will face pressure to back Sarwar in next week’s vote in the House of Commons calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In a similar vote in November, the two MPs abstained.
Starmer has repeatedly shifted his position on the issue, at first calling for a “humanitarian pause” and then a “sustainable ceasefire.”
At the Munich Security Conference, he said that the fighting in Gaza “has to stop,” adding: “The question is how do we get there?”
Scottish Labour’s passing of the ceasefire motion was unopposed. It calls for an end to strikes into and out of Gaza, Hamas’ release of hostages and a pathway to peace.
In his appeal for support for the motion, Neil Bibby, Scottish Labour’s constitution spokesperson, said: “It is simply heartbreaking that countless children in Gaza are currently dying and there are heartbroken parents in Israel too.
“That is why we have a moral obligation to be unequivocal. There must be an end to the fighting now and a sustainable ceasefire. An end to the terror and end to the violence.”
Sarwar has attempted to play down his party’s split with the national Labour Party.
“I don’t think there’s as much distance in this as people now believe,” he said.
“Keir Starmer has said he wants the fighting to stop right now and for that to be a sustainable ceasefire. I think we ultimately have the same position.”