David Lammy has described the death toll in Gaza as “abominable” as he sought to play down a Scottish National party vote next week on a ceasefire, arguing that party political debates in Westminster were not going to achieve peace in the region.
Ahead of another potential crunch point for Labour over whether or not to back 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 told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show. “Over 28,000 people have 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 to see a ceasefire.
“The question now is how, and to be absolutely clear that when that ceasefire comes, we can’t see the fighting restart.”
The SNP is planning to table a motion to be debated in the Commons on Wednesday, which would set out the party’s call for an immediate ceasefire, something supported by a number of Labour MPs but not by Keir Starmer and his frontbench, who have called instead for a sustainable end to the violence.
A similar SNP motion in November, in the form of an amendment to the king’s speech, saw 56 Labour MPs defy the party whip to back it, with eight frontbenchers stepping down to do so, including Jess Phillips.
The language used by Starmer and Lammy regarding a possible ceasefire has changed over the subsequent months, as the death toll has risen as a result of the Israeli military action in response to the 7 October massacre of Israelis by Hamas.
Speaking as he attended the Munich security conference on Saturday, Starmer said Labour would need to study the SNP motion: “We’ll have to look at the precise wording. But I’m very clear that we all want a ceasefire. The question therefore is how do we get there?”
Asked about how the party would respond, Lammy said he had not yet seen the full motion and so could not say, but added that it was to an extent a sideshow.
“Yes, we will have a vote in parliament this week,” he said. “But it’s not that vote that will bring about a ceasefire. It’s the diplomatic action, it’s Hamas, it’s Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s partners for peace saying the fighting must now stop.
“Given the tremendous loss of life, given the fact that we have said in my party that we need now to have Palestinian recognition as a roadmap to that peace, we’ve got to get to a two-state solution.
“You can see that the complexity of this does require us to look carefully at a motion, not to comment on words that are flying around social media. I just don’t think that’s the place to conduct proper diplomacy.”
In an earlier interview, Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, whose conference passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, sought to play down differences with the Starmer and Lammy view.
“I actually don’t think there is much difference,” he told Sky’s Sunday with Trevor Philips programme. “Keir, yesterday at the Munich security conference, was talking about the need for a ceasefire.
“He has said he wants the fighting to stop right now, he just said he wants immediate access to humanitarian aid, he just said he wants the immediate release of hostages, and he said he wants to see that pathway to a two-state solution.”
