David Lammy described the death toll in Gaza as “horrendous” as he sought to downplay the Scottish National Party’s vote next week on a ceasefire, arguing that party policy debates at Westminster do not would not achieve peace in the region.
Ahead of another potential crucial point for Labor on whether to support a call for a ceasefire, Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said the main point was that everyone wanted to see the violence stop.
“We all want to see an end to the fighting,” he said on BBC1’s Laura Kuenssberg show on Sunday. “More than 28,000 people lost their lives, women and children. One of my children is adopted – (there are) 17,000 orphans now in Gaza. It’s just abominable. So of course people want a ceasefire.
“The question now is how, and to be absolutely clear, when this ceasefire is in place, we will not be able to see fighting resume. »
The SNP plans to table a motion on Wednesday to be debated in the House of Commons, which would set out the party’s call for an immediate ceasefire, a proposal supported by a number of Labor MPs but not by Keir Starmer and his MPs, who called for an immediate ceasefire. rather for a lasting end to violence.
A similar SNP motion in November, in the form of an amendment to the King’s Speech, saw 56 Labor MPs defy the party whip to support it, and eight leading MPs resigned to do so, including Jess Phillips.
The language used by Starmer and Lammy regarding a possible ceasefire changed over the following months, as the death toll rose following Israeli military action in response to Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on October 7.
Speaking while attending the security conference in Munich on Saturday, Starmer said Labor should study the SNP’s motion: “We will have to look at the precise wording. But I am very clear that we all want a ceasefire. So the question is how to achieve this?
Asked about the party’s reaction, Lammy said he had not yet seen the motion in its entirety so could not say, but adding that it was to some extent a sideshow.
“Yes, we will have a vote in Parliament this week,” he said. “But this vote will not result in a ceasefire. It’s diplomatic action, it’s Hamas, it’s Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s the partners for peace who are saying that the fighting must now stop.
“Given the enormous loss of life, given the fact that we have said in my party that we need Palestinian recognition now as a road map to this peace, we must achieve a two-state solution.
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“You can see that the complexity of this situation requires us to carefully consider a motion, and not comment on comments circulating on social media. I just don’t think it’s the ideal place to conduct real diplomacy.”
In an earlier interview, Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Scottish Labor Party, whose conference on Saturday passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire, sought to downplay differences with Starmer and Lammy’s views.
“I actually don’t think there’s much difference,” he told Sky’s Sunday with Trevor Philips. “Keir yesterday at the Munich Security Conference spoke about the need for a ceasefire.
“He said he wanted the fighting to stop now, he just said he wanted immediate access to humanitarian aid, he just said he wanted the immediate release of the hostages, and he said he wanted to see this path to a two-state solution. .”