A SCOTTISH Labour MP ignored her constituents’ request for a meeting to talk about the genocide in Gaza, The National can reveal.
Johanna Baxter, the Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP, told the group Paisley for Palestine to “put your concerns in writing” after claiming she was too busy to meet.
John Mitchell, a member of the group, told The National that Baxter’s team had been unresponsive after he said the organisation would wait for a meeting and sent follow up requests.
Emails from Mitchell shared with this paper showed that Baxter was told on March 25 the group had “agreed to wait to have a meeting with you”. In the email, he added: “Please inform me when that can take place.”
Follow up emails were sent on April 15 and 28 and the most recent read: “It’s now over a month since you replied to our request for a meeting to discuss the Middle East impact on the world which includes your constituents. Can you please inform us of a date which suits you or tell us that you oppose such a meeting?”
Mitchell told The National: “They didn’t say anything, they didn’t reply to us. I’ve always written to her in a very polite way.”
The group wanted a meeting with the MP, who has been fiercely loyal to beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer , because they felt it was a more effective way to discuss the issues, according to Mitchell.
He said: “When you have a meeting with someone and you’re asking a question and they answer you, that answer might not be relevant to the question or you might disagree with them and so you’d want to respond to them.”
Mitchell added: “We were not planning to harass her. All the people in Paisley for Palestine are mature people and many of them are very professional and we certainly wanted to approach her in a professional way.”
The campaigner had had a meeting with Baxter shortly after her election in 2024 but sought another after joining Paisley for Palestine, which would have included other members of the group.
He said: “I wouldn’t say it was a successful meeting in regards my anticipation that she might be more sympathetic to the Palestinians.”
In the Commons, Baxter has spoken about Palestine on a handful of occasions. She has called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and expressed concern that the brief war between Israel and Iran last year could “undermine the UK’s efforts to end the war in Gaza”.
She has also said that Israel’s annexation of land in the West Bank in retaliation to the UK’s recognition of the state of Palestine “would constitute a blatant breach of international law”.
Labour MPs have faced intense scrutiny from their constituents horrified by the atrocities Israel has committed in Gaza, which have included targeting hospitals, schools and other vital infrastructure, while the death toll has risen above 69,000 according to the British Red Cross .
In a statement, a spokesperson for Baxter said that “at no point have we ever refused to meet with Mr Mitchell”.
They added: “In the first instance, Mr Mitchell indicated that he would be content to wait for a meeting with Johanna and if he is able to outline his specific concerns in writing we will respond to them either in writing or by arranging an appointment at a future surgery.
“This position has been relayed to him again.”
