This will sort out the children from the adults in the House of Commons.

According to Scriptonite: “Backbenchers have secured a vote for the House to recognize the state of Palestine. The title of the debate will be: THE FUTURE OF THE TWO STATE SOLUTION IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. The debate will take place on 13 Oct 2014, it will be six hours long and happen in the main chamber. It will be a debate on a substantive motion: ‘That this House calls on the government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.'”

The article warns: “It’s the government, not the House that recognises states. Plus, it’s a BBD [backbench debate] so the motions are non-binding. Essentially, the vote will be an expression of the will of the House.

“If it’s a ‘yes’ vote the government and any subsequent government would be pressured towards recognising Palestine. It would be a PR disaster for the govt. to refuse to recognise Palestine if MPs expressed their will that Palestine should be recognised.”

If any of you are hoping that this will mean the withdrawal of the UK’s support for Israel in the ongoing situation regarding Palestine – don’t get your hopes up.

A backbench debate on sickness and disability ended with an overwhelming majority in favour of the government commissioning a cumulative impact assessment of the effect of ‘welfare reform’ on claimants, and nothing came of it.

That should have been a PR disaster, too.

Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike

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