Commons Gaza vote: at least one shadow minister planning to defy Starmer

At least one shadow minister is planning to defy Keir Starmer’s orders and vote for a ceasefire in Gaza, with the Labour leader facing potentially one of his biggest ever rebellions over the issue.

Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West and a junior shadow Home Office minister, said she intended to vote for the Scottish National party amendment to the king’s speech calling for a ceasefire even though doing so will result in her being sacked.

Shah is expected to be one of several frontbenchers to back the SNP amendment on Wednesday, in a show of defiance against the Labour leadership’s refusal to call for an outright ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

She told the Commons on Wednesday: “Our values push us to do better and this is why despite all the risk to our personal positions we must do what is right. Whilst it may be a matter of convention to follow our closest ally, the US, in interests of foreign policy, it is a matter of conscience to step away from our closest ally in the interests of peace.

“We know that eventually there will be a ceasefire in this current crisis, every war ends with a cessation of hostilities. The question is not if there will be a ceasefire but when. For the people of Palestine every minute, every hour, every day we wait is another orphan, another grieving mother and another family wiped out.”

Starmer has faced a growing backlash over his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict since he gave an interview last month in which he appeared to suggest Israel had the right to withhold water and power from civilians in Gaza.

The Labour leader attempted to heal those divisions in a recent speech at the Chatham House thinktank in which he urged Israel to adhere to international law but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Labour officials said on Wednesday the party backed long humanitarian pauses to allow people to escape Gaza and emergency supplies to get through, but not a ceasefire because Hamas would not sign up to one.

Starmer spent much of the day locked in meetings with his shadow ministers as he attempted to minimise the expected rebellion. Labour is bringing its own amendment to the king’s speech, which criticises aspects of Israeli military action but does not use the word ceasefire.

Party officials had hoped this would allow MPs to vote for their amendment but abstain on the SNP one, but several Labour MPs have told the Guardian they intend to vote for both.