Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has sought to allay the concerns of some Labour members that he has been too pro-Israel in response to the conflict triggered by the Hamas attack. In a letter to councillors, he has stressed his sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people, his demand for Israel to act within international law at all times, and the importance of Gaza getting access to food, water, electricity and medicine. The letter does not contradict what Starmer was saying about the Israel-Hamas conflict last week, but the tone is more pro-Palestinian, and more internationalist, than what he was saying around the time of Labour conference, particularly in an LBC interview that triggered resignations. (See 2.38pm.)
Updated
Momentum launches campaign to get Labour to call for ceasefire in Israel/Gaza
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group originally set up to promote Jeremy Corbyn and his policies, has launched a campaign to get the party to call for a ceasefire in Israel/Gaza. It has set up an online tool that enables people in a Labour constituency to see if their MP is calling for a ceasefire, and to lobby them to do so if they’re not. People without a Labour MP can use the tool to lobby Keir Starmer and David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary.
A Commons early day motion saying the government should call for a ceasefire is now backed by 45 MPs from various parties. (See 4.12pm.)
Momentum also wants the Labour party to condemn the tactics being used by Israel. In a news relase, it has quoted approvingly a tweet from the leftwing Labour MP Zarah Sultana. She says:
Saying “Israel should follow international law” but refusing to condemn Israel for blatantly violating international law isn’t just hollow.
It’s an insult to the Palestinian people indiscriminately killed in Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza.
Saying "Israel should follow international law" but refusing to condemn Israel for blatantly violating international law isn't just hollow.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) October 18, 2023
It's an insult to the Palestinian people indiscriminately killed in Israel's brutal bombardment of Gaza.
Sultana posted this on X today after Starmer and Lammy stressed Labour’s belief in the need for Israel to abide by international law in the Commons. (See 2.38pm.)
Tony Grew, who runs the PARLYapp Twitter account, has posted the results of the elections for the three select committee chair vacancies. (See 4.49pm.)
Standards committee
471 votes.
— PARLY (@PARLYapp) October 18, 2023
341 for @HarrietHarman
116 for @stellacreasy
14 invalid. https://t.co/LpKulMl6XK
Business and trade committee
Close result in election for chair of @CommonsBTC
— PARLY (@PARLYapp) October 18, 2023
Second round
214 @angelaeagle
216 @liambyrnemp https://t.co/ULkQA8WgNT pic.twitter.com/4VUNIFVMfV
Petitions committee
Second round @LizTwistMP 206 @CatSmithMP 227 https://t.co/iRJmxuphM1 pic.twitter.com/eqh2ZrAtKr
— PARLY (@PARLYapp) October 18, 2023
Committee chair election results: Harman gets standards, Byrne business, and Smith petitions
MPs have elected three new select committee chairs today.
Harriet Harman is the new standards committee chair. She beat Stella Creasy.
Liam Byrne is the business and trade committee chair. He beat Angela Eagle and Andy McDonald.
And Cat Smith is the new petitions committee chair. She beat Marsha de Cordova and Liz Twist.
All three posts were set aside for Labour MPs, but all members of the Commons were entitled to vote.
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A reader asks:
David Lammy asked James Cleverly to share information publicly or privately on privy council terms. (See 12.51pm.) Exactly what does this mean?
David Lammy and James Cleverly are both privy counsellors. This means they are members of the privy council, a body of several hundred who are technically advisers to the king. Almost all of them are or were senior politicians; once you are in, you are in for life, because it is very hard to get kicked out (although occasionally people resign). Cabinet ministers automatically become members, and senior opposition politicians get to join too. Most MPs take the view that being a privy counsellor is a far superior honour to getting a knighthood or a damehood.
Ministers who are members of the privy council occasionally have to attend privy council meetings where they agree “orders in council” (minor bits of legislation) in the presence of the king (all standing up, for some reason).
For other privy counsellors, there is almost nothing in the job description. But, because they have taken the privy council oath, which includes a passage about keeping secrets, government takes the view that they can be trusted with confidential information. And so sometimes the government will brief opposition MPs on “privy council terms” – meaning, on the strict understanding material is kept confidential.
As with many constitutional quirks, this is not strictly necessary. Ministers and officials regularly share confidential information with people who are not members of the privy council (like journalists) because they have a relationship of trust. And thousands of civil servants get access to secret information without being privy counsellors because they have been vetted and have given confidentiality undertakings in writing.
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43 MPs sign cross-party motion saying government should call for ceasefire in Israel/Gaza
At PMQs Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said the UK should be calling for a ceasefire in Israel/Gaza. (See 12.20pm.) Rishi Sunak rejected the idea, and James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, explained later that he thought there was no chance of Hamas observing one (see 1.19pm).
Keir Starmer has also rejected the idea. At a post-PMQs briefing, asked about the proposal, a Labour spokesperson said: “We have repeatedly said that Israel has the right to defend itself and has the right to retrieve hostages.”
But 43 MPs have backed a Commons early day motion saying the government should “urgently press all parties to agree to an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities”.
It has been tabled by Richard Burgon, who is one of 29 Labour MPs who have signed it so far. Mostly they are leftwingers, but the signatories include Liam Byrne, who is not part of that faction in the party.
The EDM has also been signed by 4 independent MPs, 3 SNP MPs, 2 Alba MPs, 1 Conservative MP, 1 Plaid Cymru MP, 1 Green MP, 1 Alliance MP and 1 SDLP MP. The Tory is Sir Peter Bottomley, father of the house.
Burgon said:
These are incredibly dark days for humanity, with so many lives already lost.
Preventing the death of any more civilians must be our top priority.
That means we need an immediate ceasefire.
The UN general secretary has called for this. It is crucial that political leaders across the world, including our own, back that call to avoid the loss of any more civilian lives.
Updated
During PMQs, in response to a question from Labour’s Karin Smyth, Rishi Sunak refused to condemn the Tory candidate in the Tamworth byelection for posting an image on Facebook post telling jobless parents who cannot feed their children to “fuck off” if they still pay a £30 phone bill. (See 12.30pm.)
At a post-PMQs briefing, asked if Sunak thought the candidate’s message was acceptable, the PM’s press secretary said his message would be to “judge us by our actions”. She went on:
I think the point that was being made is that the safety net of benefits is there to provide a vital support for those that need it, and, unlike Labour, we’re a party that believes in work to provide for yourself and your family and we back those that do that, so I’d say judge us by our actions on supporting the most vulnerable.
Asked whether Sunak thinks words do not matter, she said: “He believes actions matter more.”
Council leaders and anti-poverty campaigners join attack on Humza Yousaf's decision to freeze council tax in Scotland
Humza Yousaf’s pledge to freeze council tax in Scotland (see 10.46am) has been met with a further backlash, from struggling local councils and anti-poverty campaigners.
Yousaf insisted that the rehashed Salmond-era policy – billed as an attempt to win back voters from resurgent Scottish Labour and which U-turned on original plans to increase council tax after they were met with an outcry from struggling middle earners – would be fully funded by Holyrood.
But it provoked anger from the local authority umbrella body Cosla, which today described his failure to consult them in advance as “deplorable” and threatened not to implement it.
After an emergency council leaders’ meeting this morning, the Cosla president, Shona Morrison, said there was no agreement to freeze council tax. She went on:
Previous council tax freezes have been regressive, having no impact for the poorest in society and eroding the council tax base, compounding councils’ ongoing underfunding.
Peter Kelly of the Poverty Alliance said:
Those who are on the lowest incomes will gain little from this freeze on council tax. Instead the freeze will put further pressure on local services, services that people on low incomes disproportionately rely on.
And Lewis Ryder-Jones, Oxfam Scotland’s policy adviser, said the freeze would do nothing to address the inherent unfairness in the council tax system. He said:
The upcoming Scottish budget is a litmus test of the first minister’s political courage and vision: will there be more timidity and yet more stalling, or will he seize the chance to kickstart a series of wholesale tax reforms which will help build the fairer, greener, more equal Scotland we all want to live in?
Updated
Starmer has been 'absolutely consistent' on importance of Israel following international law, Labour claims
Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the Labour leader had been “absolutely consistent” in stressing the importance of Israel adhering to international law after a number of councillors resigned in protest at his apparent stance over the conflict with Hamas.
The Labour leader had said during an interview with LBC last week that Israel had “the right” to withhold energy and water from Gaza, prompting an angry reaction among some within his party. He added: “Obviously, everything should be done within international law.”
His spokesperson suggested that Starmer had, in fact, been answering a previous question on Israel’s right to defend itself, and had stressed his position on international law in multiple other interviews with the media that day. He went on:
That has been our position throughout and that hasn’t changed.
If you listen to the tape it was one of those things where there was overlapping questions and answers based on what had been said before which was the specific question beforehand about Israel having the right to defend itself, which is something we have repeatedly said and stand by.
In terms of the situation we want to see all parties stick to that is to adhere to international law, and that was what was said on LBC as part of that same answer. That has been consistent in all of the interviews he has done.
The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, and Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, met Labour councillors on Monday night to discuss the issue, while the Labour leader wrote to all of the party’s councillors himself today. (See 2.38pm.)
The spokesperson went on:
We think that it’s really important that those who are local representatives where clearly there are strong feelings among people of different faiths and of no faiths on this issue.
We are giving councillors the respect of the chance to hear from the Labour frontbench and for us to set out our position, not least how some of these issues can get edited on social media …
We know this is an issue where people have strong feelings and that’s something we completely respect.
He suggested there would be further engagement from the Labour frontbench with local councillors over the issue in the days ahead.
Updated
Starmer writes to Labour councillors stressing his concern for international law to quash concerns he's too pro-Israel
Keir Starmer has written to Labour councillors stressing his sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people, his demand for Israel to act within international law at all times, and the importance of Gaza getting access to food, water, electricity and medicine. Rachel Wearmouth from the New Statesman has posted it on X.
Keir Starmer has today written to Labour councillors about the Israel-Gaza conflict. It comes after several councillors quit in protest over his stance on Israel's planned invasion of Gaza pic.twitter.com/N6FBMUnViE
— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) October 18, 2023
The letter fleshes out what Starmer himself was saying at PMQs (see 12.10pm and 2.04pm) and what David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said in the chamber (see 1.01pm.) It does not contradict what Starmer was saying about the Israel-Hamas conflict last week (because even Starmer’s most pro-Israel interventions including a call for international law to be followed), but the tone is more pro-Palestinian, and more internationalist, than what was being said by the party in the days immediately after the Hamas attack.
Starmer is doing this to quell a potential rebellion in the party from activists alarmed at the highly pro-Israel tone of the party’s initial response to the conflict. Leftwing Labour MPs have been relatively restrained (following the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, some of them are nervous about speaking out), but outside the Commons there been resignations at council level and many Muslim Labour members are said to have signed an open letter to Starmer saying “your consistent defence of Israel’s actions, often with limited regard for the humanitarian plight of the Palestinians, has left many members of the Muslim community feeling unheard and unrepresented”.
According to the Financial Times, Lammy and Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, held a meeting with councillors on Monday night to discuss this. In their story Lucy Fisher and William Wallis say Lammy and Gray were “warned by councillors who want Labour to criticise Israel’s actions that the party had ‘a day or two’ left to alter course before the internal situation became ‘unmanageable’, according to one person present”.
Updated
Starmer accused of backing away from unequivocal support expressed last week for Israel's siege tactics in Gaza
Andrew Fisher, who was Jeremy Corbyn’s policy chief, says Keir Starmer committed a U-turn at PMQs when he said that “medicines, food, fuel and water must get into Gaza immediately”. (See 12.10pm.) Fisher says this is a shift from last week, when Starmer gave an interview to LBC in which he appeared to condone Israel cutting off power and water to Gaza. (“Appeared” because Starmer also said Israel should act within international law, which does not allow the siege tactics Starmer was defending.)
Starmer and other shadow cabinet ministers took a similar line in other interviews, but the LBC interview was particularly provocative, and has been cited by some Labour members who have resigned in protest.
“Medicines, fuel, food and water must get into Gaza” says Keir Starmer, who talked of the “harrowing humanitarian” situation on the ground.
U-turn from a week ago on LBC when he said Israel had the right to cut off water and electricity
"Medicines, fuel, food and water must get into Gaza" says Keir Starmer, who talked of the "harrowing humanitarian" situation on the ground.
— Andrew Fisher (@FisherAndrew79) October 18, 2023
U-turn from a week ago on LBC when he said Israel had the right to cut off water and electricity #PMQs
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Diana Johnson (Lab) says she is baffled why the BBC refuses to describe Hamas as a terrorist group when they are a proscribed organisation.
Cleverly says he cannot understand why the BBC won’t call Hamas terrorists.
Updated
Caroline Lucas (Green) says of course securing a ceasefire would be hard. But, without one, thousands more people will be killed, she says. She says the UK should be on the right side of history.
Cleverly says Hamas and groups such as Islamic Jihad are also involved in this conflict. He says anyone calling for Israel to observe a ceasefire should also be calling on the terrorist groups to accept that. (That provokes gasps from some MPs in the chamber, because he seems to be implying that Lucas isn’t doing that.)
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Cleverly says broadcasters should focus on accuracy, and not try to 'outpace social media platforms'
Damian Green (Con) asked Cleverly if he agreed that broadcasters and social media companies needed to be more responsible in their reporting. “I am struck by the number of emails I have had from constituents that have already rushed to conclusions and all blame Israel,” he said.
Cleverly said there was ongoing efforts in government to urge social media platforms to “act with greater professionalism and greater consciousness of the impact they have”. He went on:
I would make a broad point to broadcasters. I have had this conversation directly with broadcasters in the past. I believe there is an attempt by broadcasters to try and outpace those social media platforms.
The days of breaking news on those traditional platforms is long in the past. They should focus on accuracy rather than pace, because their words have impact here in the UK, and around the world.
No 10 says at least seven Britons known to have been killed in Hamas attack, and nine more missing
At the post-PMQs briefing, No 10 said that at least seven Britons are now known to have been killed in the Hamas attack on Israel, and a further nine are missing. On Monday Sunak told MPs at least six Britons had been killed, and 10 more were missing.
Updated
Anum Qaisar (SNP) asked Cleverly if he would back calls for an international criminal court investigation into what was happening in Gaza, including the forced removal of civilians.
Cleverly said he thought Qaisar was “fundamentally wrong”. He said encouraging people to move to safety was not forced relocation.
Crispin Blunt (Con), a former chair of the foreign affairs committee, says both sides have already committed war crimes. In Gaza people are starving, and being “dehydrated to death”. That amounts to collective punishment, which is illegal. And the forced deportation of people is also illegal, he says. He says a ceasefire is the only way out of this.
UPDATE: Blunt said:
Whatever the investigation finds out, it’s not going to matter a great deal to all those who are dead in the hospital.
Whether the Israeli explanation is correct – that it was an Islamic jihad missile that misfired and then landed amongst explosives that were on the hospital site, which then killed so many people – or whether it was an Israeli strike, in the end both sides have now committed war crimes.
Updated
Cleverly rejects call for UK to demand ceasefire, saying Hamas would not respect one
Rachael Maskell (Lab) urges the government to call for a ceasefire, to de-esclate the situation.
Cleverly replies:
I have seen nothing – nothing – which leads me to believe that Hamas would respect calls for a ceasefire.
Andrew Percy (Con) criticises the BBC for reporting what Hamas said about the hospital blast as fact, without challenge, last night. He says reporting like this puts Jews at risk.
Cleverly says journalists should remember that taking time to establish the facts can save lives.
UPDATE: Percy said:
Last night there were members in this place, including senior members, scurrying around stating as fact that this incident was caused by an Israeli rocket.
The BBC and other media referred to Hamas statements by Hamas officials – I think they meant to say Hamas terrorists – and they presented them as fact without challenge.
This is not only risking radicalisation of communities in this country, where we already know there’s a problem with antisemitism, it is also putting Jews at risk and I’d just urge colleagues to be careful of their comments given the role blood libels play in promoting antisemitism.
One MP that Percy may have been referring to is Jeremy Corbyn, who posted this on X last night.
Israeli air strikes have hit Al Ahli hospital in Gaza. More than 500 people - patients, doctors & those sheltering - have been killed.
What unspeakable horror. We will mourn their loss forever.
Our leaders could have spoken up for peace. They chose to cheer on war instead.
When will they demand an end to these atrocious war crimes? How many Palestinian lives will it take to call for these indiscriminate killings to stop?
Please, for the sake of humanity, raise your voice for an immediate ceasefire. The existence of the Palestinian people is at stake.
Israeli air strikes have hit Al Ahli hospital in Gaza. More than 500 people - patients, doctors & those sheltering - have been killed.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 17, 2023
What unspeakable horror. We will mourn their loss forever.
Our leaders could have spoken up for peace. They chose to cheer on war instead.…
Updated
Michael Ellis (Con) says last night a murderous organisation (Hamas) was instantly believed in what it said about the hospital blast. But people also refused to accept that Jewish babies had been brutally murdered, he says.
Cleverly agrees with Ellis’s point. He says what is said by journalists can have serious repercussions.
Diane Abbott (Ind) asked Cleverly if he would support an independent inquiry into the hospital explosion.
Cleverly said that in theory an independent inquiry would be desirable, but he suggested that was not practical in Gaza.
Updated
Cleverly says UK wants to reach its own judgment before backing Biden in saying Hamas to blame for hospital blast
In his response to Lammy, Cleverly said the government had taken note of what President Biden said about responsibility for the hospital explosion. But he said the UK government would come to its own judgment. It would do so quickly, he said, and publish the conclusions as soon as it was confident in the conclusions.
We take note of what President Biden has said, but we will come to our own judgment, we will work on that quickly, and we will ensure that our assessment is put in the public domain as soon as we are confident of the details.
At a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, Biden said:
Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we’ve got to overcome a lot of things.
Updated
Lammy stresses need for Israel to follow international law 'at all times' as he explains Labour's stance on conflict
In his response to Cleverly, Lammy also said Labour’s response to the crisis was governed by three principles.
First, we support Israel’s right to defend itself rescue hostages and protect your citizens.
Second, international law must be followed at all times.
And, third, civilians must not be targeted, aid provided and innocent lives protected.
Lammy also said that the government should “leave no stone unturned” in trying to the people of Gaza has access to food, water, fuel, electricity and medicines. He also said that Palestinian civilians needed to know “the world is not simply watching, but we are acting on their behalf”.
This statement sounded like a modest recalibration of Labour’s response. Lammy and Keir Starmer have been facing a strong backlash from members and councillors who think they sounded too pro-Israel in their initial comments last week, and who were appalled by interviews in which Starmer seemed to condone the collective punishment of Palestinians, in breach of international law.
Nadeem Badshah has more on the Labour backlash here.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, responded to Cleverly.
He said MPs should be “wary of disinformation” and “avoid dangerous speculation”, he says.
But he asked if the UK government agreed with President Biden’s assessment. And he asked Cleverly to share what information he could, either in public or in private, on privy council terms.
James Cleverly says UK government will not 'rush to judgment' over who was to blame for hospital blast
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, is responding to the urgent question on the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital.
He says the loss of life is “profoundly disturbing”. And he says the UK is working with allies to establish what happened. He goes on:
We will not rush to judgment. The whole house will understand that pointing fingers prematurely only fuels regional instability and upsets community cohesion here in UK …
We are carefully analysing the evidence that has been put in the public domain and other information. And as soon as we have reached a definitive conclusion for ourselves, we will make that public.
But he says some things are not in doubt. Israel suffered an unprecedented terrorist attack from a group indiffferent to human life, he says.
Normally I post a snap verdict at this point, but that is normally about the contest between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. Today there was no contest; in terms of their policy, and tone, on Israel-Hamas, they were virtually indistinguishable. Both of them would regard that as a virtue, because they both stressed the need for the Commons to speak with one voice.
Crispin Blunt (Con), a former chair of the foreign affairs committee, says there is a danger of overreacting and committing a war crime. That would not just be a crime, but a mistake, he says. He says Sunak is well placed to urge restraint.
Sunak says the government is urging Israel to do all it can to avoid civilian casualties.
Updated
Gavin Newlands (SNP) asks Sunak if he agrees that was is happening to the people of Gaza is a war crime.
Sunak says Israel has a right to defend itself.
Jill Mortimer (Con) says a constituent was stabbed by an asylum seeker. She says people are scared. She says staff in her constituency are often beseieged by asylum seekers, most of whom are illegal migrants who should be expelled. She says she wants them out of Hartlepool.
Sunak says the government is doing all it can to stop illegal migration.
UPDATE: Mortimer said:
Every week my office is besieged by asylum seekers. My staff are intimidated by young men. The fact is, most of them are illegal migrants who should be expelled.
Will the prime minister take action? Will he make sure enforcement is delivered? Will he ensure that people who have no right to be here are expelled?
Enough is enough, I want these people out of Hartlepool now.
And Sunak replied:
I would like to reassure her that this government is doing everything we can to tackle illegal migration and the harm it causes by removing those with no right to be here in the UK.
Updated
Sunak declines to condemn anti-welfare jibe from Tory byelection candidate in Tamworth
Asked to condemn the comments made by the Tory candidate in Tamworth, Sunak refuses, and instead defends the government’s record on welfare.
Mark Eastwood (Con) asks for funding for a rail upgrade on the Huddersfield to Penistone line that would benefit his Dewsbury constituency.
Sunak says the transport secretary will look at this.
Updated
Richard Foord (Lib Dem) asks about a hospital in his constituency earmarked for demolition. This plan is an insult to residents who raised funds to keep the hospital going, he says.
Sunak says the local NHS is considering options to keep the building going as a sustainable space.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, asks Sunak if he backs the creation of an east-west council to so that all parts of the UK family can collaborate.
Sunak says there is '“considerable merit” in Donaldson’s idea.
Stephen Crabb (Con) criticises media outlets for reporting as fact Hamas claims saying Israel was to blame for the attack on the hospital in Gaza.
Sunak agrees, and he urges the media to be careful in what it reports.
UPDATE: Crabb said:
Last night sections of the British media were reporting as fact that it was Israeli rockets that had landed and attacked the al Ahli hospital, relying on information supplied by terrorist-controlled Gaza. The headlines have since been rewritten but the outpouring of Jew-hate on social media overnight was vile.
So would the prime minister please make the point again that the way that this conflict is being reported has massive implications for our Jewish community and that any information coming from Hamas must be treated with a degree of scrutiny and cross-examination that is sadly sometimes lacking?
And Sunak replied:
He is absolutely right that we should not rush to judgment before we have all the facts on the appalling situation that we saw yesterday, particularly given the sensitivities that he raises, the impact on communities here, but also across the region.
As I said, it is incumbent on all of those in positions of responsibility in this house and outside in the media to recognise that the words we say will have an impact and we should be careful with them …
In the same way as that we don’t treat what comes out of the Kremlin as the gospel truth, we should not do the same with Hamas.
Updated
Sunak refuses to back SNP proposal for UK to open refugee resettlement scheme for people from Gaza
Flynn says a ceasefire would allow humanitarian corridors to be opened. What consideration has been given to a refugee resettlement scheme?
(The SNP leader, Humza Yousaf, called for one in his conference speech yesterday.)
Sunak says the government is already contributing aid to help Palestinian refugees.
Sunak rejects SNP demand for government to call for immediate ceasefire in Israel/Gaza
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, says he hopes MPs all share the common humanity that says civilians should be protected. Will Sunak back the SNP and call for an immediate ceasefire in the region?
Sunak says the government thinks Israel has a right to defend itself. It will urge Israel to take every precaution to avoid harm to civilians.
Sunak says the government will invest £12bn to better connect Manchester and Liverpool.
Starmer asks Sunak if he agrees that the Commons should remain united, and that with one voice it should support Israel’s right to defend itself, and humanitarian access to Gaza.
Sunak agrees. He says MPs should speak with one voice in condemning Hamas and urging Israel to take steps to minimise civilian casualties.
Starmer says a two-state solution feels more distant than ever, but it remains the only way through. Because hope is at its thinest, we must work our hardest to ensure the vision of a path to peace is maintained, he says.
Sunak agrees. He says in his talks with regional leaders, he has pushed for a peaceful future. People do not want this to escalate, he says.
Updated
Starmer and Sunak warn against rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in UK
Starmer says there has been a disgusting rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attack. And there has been an appalling surge in Islamophobia too. Does the PM agree all MPs have a duty to say no to this hate, and ensure every British Jew and every British Muslim knows they can live here free from discrimination.
Sunak says all MPs should play their part in stamping out hate. The government is also in talks with the police to ensure they are aware of the full tools available to them to deal with this.
Updated
Starmer says yesterday he met charities working in Gaza. The lights are going out, and the people of Gaza are worried they will die in darkness. Hamas are not the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian people are not Hamas. Does the PM agree medicine must be allowed in?
Sunak says the government is providing humanitarian aid. He has raised the issue of humanitarian access as a priority in all his calls with regional leaders.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
The lights are going out and the innocent civilians of Gaza are terrified that they will die in the darkness, out of sight.
International law must always be followed, Hamas are not the Palestinian people and the Palestinian people are not Hamas. Does [Sunak] agree that medicines, food, fuel and water must get into Gaza immediately? This is an urgent situation and innocent Palestinians need to know that the world is not just simply watching but acting to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
Updated
Starmer says Israel has a duty to defend itself, and to bring its hostages home. But isn’t it clear that Hamas should release these hostages immediately?
Sunak says Hamas, and Hamas alone, is responsible for this. He says the government is working around the clock with allies to get the hostages home. He spoke to the emir of Qatar about this yesterday.
Sunak says government will not 'rush to judgment' about hospital blast until facts established
Keir Starmer says the fear of people in Gaza is profound. International law must be upheld, he says. And that means civilians must be protected. He asks when the government will give an update on what happened at al-Ahli hospital.
Sunak says what the government says on this has implications beyond the Commons. The intelligence agencies are trying to establish what happened, he says.
UPDATE: Sunak said:
We should not rush to judgment before we have all the facts on this awful situation.
Every member will know that the words we say here have an impact beyond this House. This morning I met with the national security adviser but also the chair of the joint intelligence committee. I can tell him our intelligence services have been rapidly analysing the evidence to independently establish the facts.
Updated
Sajid Javid, the former Tory cabinet minister, says he is proud to live in the most successful multicultural democracy in the world. (That sounds like a rebuke to Suella Braverman.) But he says, to deal with antisemitic incidents, foreign nationals who commit acts of antisemitism should have their visas removed.
Sunak says the government will not tolerate antisemitism. He implies the government already has this power.
Updated
Chris Law (SNP) says the PM’s first responsibility must be to bring British citizens home. Will he do all he can to establish the opening of the Rafah crossing?
Sunak says the government is doing all it can to ensure the safety of British nationals caught up in this. He says he has spoken to the Egpytian president about getting the Rafah crossing open.
Rishi Sunak starts by saying all MPs will have been shocked by the scenes at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. The government is working to establish what happened, he says.
Updated
In the Commons Lisa Cameron, the SNP MP who has defected, has crossed the floor to sit with the Tories, the i’s Paul Waugh reports.
Ex SNP MP Lisa Cameron cheered as she physically crossed the floor to join the Conservatives, flanked by @theresa_may and others
Ex SNP MP Lisa Cameron cheered as she physically crossed the floor to join the Conservatives, flanked by @theresa_may and others
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October 18, 2023
After PMQs there will be an urgent question on the explosion at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in Gaza, which has reportedly killed hundreds of people. David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has tabled the question. A Foreign Office minister will reply.
Sunak to face Starmer at PMQs
Rishi Sunak will be taking PMQs shortly. It will be his first exchange with Keir Starmer since the party conferences.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
British Museum was victim of 'inside job' over stolen items, its chair of trustees, George Osborne, tells MPs
George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor who is now chair of trustees at the British Museum, told MPs this morning that it had been the victim of an “inside job”.
Osborne was giving evidence about the theft of an estimated 2,000 items from the museum’s collection, which came to light over the summer.
Explaining what happened, Osborne said:
We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.
There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us. The objects have started to be recovered … We have changed our whistleblowing code, changed our policy on thefts … tightened up security on thefts.
Osborne also said the “trusting culture” at the museum contributed to the problem.
If someone is entrusted by an organisation to look after something and they are the person removing those objects, that is hard for any organisation, and it was hard for the museum, where there is a trusting culture.
If that trust is completely abused and as I think will become clear in the coming months quite a lot of steps were taken to conceal that, it wasn’t just that things were taken, records were altered and the like, it’s hard to spot.
Osborne also said the missing items that have been recovered would be put on display. He explained:
We are intending to put on display the objects we have recovered, there is a lot of public interest in these objects.
350 have now been recovered and titles have been transferred to us so we have the makings of a good exhibition that was not previously planned.
In August the museum said an employee had been sacked in connection with missing items. A police investigation is underway and a man has been interviewed under caution.
Mark Drakeford accuses Johnson and Truss of of 'active hostility to devolution'
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said former UK Conservative prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were actively hostile to devolution and claimed Rishi Sunak’s government did not have the energy to revive relations with the devolved administrations.
Asked during a meeting of the Welsh affairs committee in Westminster about the state of his administration’s relationship with the UK government, Drakeford said:
We certainly no longer inhabit the world of active hostility to devolution which I think was characteristic of both Mr Sunak’s predecessors.
I’ve met the new prime minister twice in the last 10 months and I would say that the conduct of relations is at least on a more respectful footing than would have been the case in the previous period.
But Drakeford said he had the impression that the UK government was aware it was coming towards the end of the current parliamentary term and the “energy to invest in reviving inter-governmental relations is at a relatively low ebb”.
He was also critical of the way the Sewel Convention is operating. The convention is meant to stop the UK parliament making laws within the competence of the devolved administrations.
Drakeford said: “Sewel has become a broken piece of machinery.” He said it had been observed for 20 years but was routinely broken now. “Sewel is completely unfit for its original purpose,” Drakeford said.
Scottish TUC calls SNP's surprise council tax freeze 'electioneering at its worst'
The Scottish TUC (STUC) has criticised Humza Yousaf’s decision to announce a council tax freeze in his speech to the SNP conference yesterday.
The announcement came as a surprise because until yesterday the SNP government has been planning to raise council tax. In announcing a freeze, Yousaf was reviving a familiar SNP strategy; for its first nine years in office at Holyrood, it did not let council tax bills rise at all.
Dave Moxham, the deputy general secretary of the STUC, told BBC Radio Scotland this morning that Yousaf’s announcement was “electioneering at its worst”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Wednesday, Dave Moxham, the deputy general secretary of the STUC, said:
What the first minister didn’t say is that we pay on average about £500 less per person up north than they do down south.
This is something the Scottish government has developed over a decade, and the effect of that has been an incredible squeeze on local government services, and that has to stop.
This announcement doesn’t help, but it’s electioneering at its worst.
Moxham also said that he was surprised the Scottish government had found the money to fund the pledge.
It was something of a surprise to find that £100m has just been discovered in the cupboard that wasn’t there a few days ago.
I’m afraid to be slightly cynical and say it’s party conference season and that’s really what’s brought it about. But it really is a bad policy at a bad time.
As Severin Carrell reports in his story, the announcement was also criticised yesterday by the Scottish Greens, who are the SNP’s coalition partners, and by the Cosla, the umbrella body for Scotland’s councils.
UK inflation unexpectedly holds steady at 6.7% amid rising fuel prices
UK inflation unexpectedly held steady in September at 6.7% as soaring fuel costs offset the first monthly fall in food prices for two years, Richard Partington reports.
As Politico reports, in its response to the report from the National Infrastructure Commission’s report, the government stressed its commitment to “Network North”. A government spokesperson said:
Delivering high quality infrastructure is the foundation of our future growth. Our Network North plan will deliver the transport that matters most to people and we’re adopting a fairer and more pragmatic approach to meeting net zero that supports households and families to make greener choices whilst easing the burdens on working people.
Network North is the branding used to describe the alternative transport projects that Rishi Sunak said would be funded with the £36bn saved from the cancellation of phase two of HS2. Critics say it is not a network, and it is not exclusive to the north of England.
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Tory candidate shared post using foul language towards struggling parents
Andrew Cooper, the Conservative candidate in tomorrow’s Tamworth byelection, has defended sharing a Facebook post telling jobless parents who cannot feed their children to “fuck off” if they still pay a £30 phone bill, Aletha Adu reports.
Labour says infrastructure commission report amounts to backing for party's plans
At the Labour conference one of the announcements from the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her speech was a proposal to set up a “cross-departmental infrastructure acceleration unit”. It did not make the front pages, but it was illustrative of how infrastructure seemed to be almost the only thing the party wanted to talk about. That helps to explain why the party has welcomed the National Infrastructure Commission report warmly.
In a statement, Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said:
The National Infrastructure Commission’s report backs Labour’s plans to get Britain building again.
There is no doubt we need a transformation in the UK’s approach to infrastructure to drive investment and growth across Britain. However, after 13 years of economic failure and stagnation, the biggest obstacle to this report’s recommendations being implemented and to get our economy growing is the Conservative party.
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National Infrastructure Commission report backs more congestion charging in cities
This is what the National Infrastructure Commission report says about congestion charging.
Investment in public transport alone will not be sufficient to reduce congestion and improve capacity. Cities will also need to reduce car journeys into congested city centres, especially at peak times. Measures such as congestion charging and workplace parking levies can reduce car use, thereby freeing up room on the roads for more public transport. The sequencing of these transport changes will be important as reducing trips by car where there is no viable public transport alternative risks hindering, not supporting, growth and having negative social impacts.
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Sunak's decision to allow sale of land bought for HS2 'mistake', says government's chief infrastructure adviser
Good morning. In his party conference speech Rishi Sunak said that he wanted to turn his back on “30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision” and instead take good decisions for the long term. Keir Starmer makes the same case when he attacks “sticking-plaster politics”, and both arguments suggest that it would be a wonderful idea if the UK had some wise, expert body able to tell the government what it needs to do to prepare the country for the next 10, 20, 50 years.
Happily, there is such a body. Actually, there are several, but one of them is the National Infrastructure Commission, set up in 2015 to make recommendations to the government on what it should be doing to improve the country’s infrastructure, and today it has published its second five-year review. There is a summary here, the full 222-page report is here, and here is our news report.
Having read the report, Sunak may find his enthusiasm for long-term decision-making starts to wane. One of his recent announcements has been to declare that he will end the “war on motorists”, but Gwyn Topham reports, the commission says that measures such as congestion charging are needed to stop too many people driving into cities.
The report is also critical of the decision to scrap the second leg of HS2, saying that it will leave “a major gap in the UK’s rail strategy around which a number of cities have based their economic growth plans”. The government is now authorising the sale of land brought under compulsory purchase to allow the Birmingham to Manchester leg to go ahead, but Sir John Armitt, the chair of the commission, has told the BBC that this is a mistake. He said:
I think it’s a mistake. I think that the land should be kept for at least two or three years to give the opportunity for people to revisit that and look at what can be done within that space and find a more cost-effective solution, not write it off today.
I am disappointed because I think it’s what we often describe as a sort of knee-jerk, snap reaction.
I will post more on the report soon.
And we may get questions about it at PMQs, although – as you would expect – the Israel-Hamas is likely to be the dominant topic of political discussion today.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.45am: Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, gives evidence to the Commons Welsh affairs committee.
10am: George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, gives evidence to the culture committee in his capacity as chair of trustees at the British Museum about the theft of objects from its collection.
11am: The ballot opens for MPs to vote for three select committee chairs: standards, business and trade, and petitions. Voting closes at 2.30pm, and the results will be announced after that.
12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
Afternoon: Sunak is due to do a visit.
Also, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, is in Washington for talks on Israel and Ukraine.
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