Tag Archives: motion

Was Streeting’s about-turn on Gaza just a pose?

Wes Streeting: look at that smug smirk.

Take a look at Wes Streeting, laughing and joking in a London restaurant after Labour hijacked the SNP motion for a ceasefire in Gaza and made it meaningless:

He was acting as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He certainly didn’t seem to care about what he and his party had just done.

To clarify: after the SNP tabled a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the collective punishment (a war crime) meted out on Palestinian non-combatants there by Israel, Keir Starmer’s Labour (of which Streeting is a leading MP) tabled an amendment removing that reference, adding verbiage sympathetic to Israel and saying any ceasefire should happen at Israel’s convenience.

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When it came to the vote, SNP and Tory MPs had walked out of the Commons chamber in protest at Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle’s decision to allow the Labour amendment to be debated (it was against convention for another opposition party to table an amendment when the government had also tabled one), so Labour MPs were free to approve their amendment, meaning the SNP could not have a vote on its own motion.

This is a clear abuse of Parliamentary procedure (and Hoyle had been warned of this very fact by his clerk, before he adopted the Labour amendment). It brought the entire debate into disrepute.

And then we see video of Streeting laughing afterwards, without a care in the world.

It makes a mockery of his words on Sky News on Monday: “What we have seen are actions that go beyond reasonable self-defence and also call into question whether Israel has broken international law. The ICJ [International Court of Justice] are now investigating and we take all of that seriously.

“I think, objectively, yes, Israel has gone too far. And we have seen that with a disproportionate loss of innocent civilian life.”

“A disproportionate loss of innocent civilian life” suggested that Streeting agreed with the SNP’s motion that said Israel was inflicting collective punishment on the non-combatant citizens of Gaza – punishing them for the actions of Hamas.

And then Labour tabled its watered-down amendment, he supported that, and went off to have a laugh and a joke over a slap-up meal while Gazans like him were being shot, bombed, slaughtered.

He and his party do not deserve to form a government – and the people know it:

If you thought you would support Labour at the next election, think again.


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UK to demand Israel/Gaza ceasefire – but only after ‘chaos’ in the Commons

Lindsay Hoyle: his choices in the ceasefire debate led to considerably more contrition than you can see in this image.

What an unholy mess.

After Commons Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle broke convention to accept an Opposition amendment to an Opposition motion calling for a ceasefire in the Israel/Gaza conflict, the debate on the most serious issue facing the world today descended into a farcical row about procedure.

Hoyle left the Speaker’s chair while the debate was still ongoing, prompting Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, to demand that he return to the House of Commons to explain what had happened.

He said if the Labour Party’s amendment was carried, then the SNP vote would not be held. He said this amounted to telling the SNP “our views and our votes in this house are irrelevant to him”.

According to the BBC, Conservative and SNP MPs then walked out of the Commons chamber in protest at Hoyle’s handling of the debate. Concerns were repeated that he had been pressured into accepting Labour’s amendment with threats that, otherwise, he would not be re-elected as Speaker after the general election.

On top of all this, some smartass called for the remainder of the debate to be held in private – meaning all members of the public must leave, broadcasting of proceedings ends, and the official record Hansard does not produce a transcript of what MPs say – but decisions are still recorded.

If it had passed, this would have raised more concerns about a lack of democracy and accountability. It didn’t, though.

Labour’s amendment – and then the SNP’s amended motion – was then passed without a vote – while SNP and Tory MPs were still outside the Commons chamber.

Because they walked out in protest at the Speaker, they did not have the opportunity to register their votes on the calls for an immediate ceasefire. So Labour MPs were very nearly the only ones voting.

In the meantime, Hoyle was located and reappeared to claim that he had not been put under any pressure by Keir Starmer or any other Labour MP.

“I wanted to do the best by every member of the house,” he said.

“I regret how it’s ended up. It was not my intention. I wanted all to ensure they could express their views. As it was, in particularly the SNP, were unable to vote on their own proposition.

“It is with my sadness that it ended in this position. It was never my intention. I recognise the strength of feeling of this house and its members. I will reflect on my part in that. I do not want it to have ended like this.”

He said he would meet party leaders and chief whips to discuss the best way forward, and added: “I thought I was doing the right thing. I do take responsibility for my actions.”

That was not enough for Mr Flynn. He acknowledged Hoyle’s apology but said the Speaker was warned that his decision would lead to the SNP not having a vote: “I am afraid that is treating myself and my colleagues in the SNP with complete and utter contempt.”

To Hoyle, he said: “Your position is intolerable.”

He clarified his position to journalists outside, saying there could be no vote on the SNP’s motion because the Labour party put pressure on the Speaker so that “Labour’s show was the only show in town.”

“This was all about something so much bigger than us and yet here we are talking about all of the wrong things” he says.

He said he had wanted to call for a ceasefire in Gaza with his party’s motion, but “this place has turned it into a complete pantomime.”

It is easy to understand why the SNP should be unhappy with Labour’s amendment, which is far more sympathetic to Israel than their motion would have been.

The amendment calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, but does not mention the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” which was part of the SNP motion and amounts to a war crime.

The Labour amendment also “condemns the terrorism of Hamas” and notes “that Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence”. And it calls for the release of hostages and international aid to be allowed into Gaza.

Some have said the amendment amounts to demanding a ceasefire “when Israel feels like it” – which is no good at all because Israel will feel like it after Gaza is leveled and every last child, woman and man there is dead or has been expelled.

So, thanks to Labour’s saboteurs, a debate that should have condemned Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza became a silly squabble about procedure, with an amendment that makes Israel look like the victim passed almost unnoticed.

Benjamin Netanyahu must be laughing like the maniac he is.

Labour foiled as SNP supports ceasefire amendment to maximise chance of success

Outflanked: too bad, Tel Aviv Keith!

Keir Starmer’s apparent bid to spoil the SNP’s motion for the UK to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has been foiled after Scottish MPs supported his amendment.

The Labour amendment adds in a significant amount of wording that seems intended to give Israel reasons to ignore the call for peace.

It should not have been called during an Opposition Day debate (as the SNP is also a party that opposes the Tory government) – but Commons Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle broke with Parliamentary convention to do so.

It seems he had been told by Starmer that Labour would not support his re-election as Speaker after the general election if he did not. That’s blackmailisn’t it?

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Many will see this as further proof that Starmer is a puppet of the Israeli government and more invested in pursuing its interests than in working for the good of people here in the UK.

But all of that became academic when the SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said he would support Labour’s amendment. He said it follows “months of public and SNP pressure”.

His statement said: “While the Labour Party amendment is deficient in a number of ways, we will nonetheless vote for it to maximise the chance of the UK parliament supporting an immediate ceasefire.

“Should it fall, we urge all MPs to back the SNP motion in kind.”


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Is Labour sabotaging Gaza ceasefire motion to appease Israel

Keir Starmer: see that flag behind him? Is it the emblem of his real bosses?

Today’s the day! But will it be the day Labour sabotages the Gaza ceasefire motion in a bid to appease Israel?

As This Writer types, MPs in Westminster are set to vote on whether to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in what is left of the Gaza Strip.

The motion has been tabled by the Scottish National Party and enjoys widespread support among the people of the United Kingdom. A petition demanding that MPs also support it has been signed by more than 50,000 people:

But Labour leader Keir Starmer has apparently told his MPs to reject it – because it correctly states that Israel is inflicting collective punishment, which is a war crime, on the non-combatant civilians of Gaza:

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Instead, Labour and the Conservatives have tried to muddy the issue by tabling motions of their own. Here’s Lisa Nandy – is she still the chair of Labour Friends of Palestine? That would be hypocritical now, wouldn’t it? – talking a lot of nonsense about her party’s motion:

The Labour amendment sets conditions for a ceasefire that make it less likely to happen; the claim that the SNP doesn’t stipulate that the ceasefire should be by both Israel and Hamas is nonsense – a ceasefire must involve both sides, and the other conditions are mainly to offer Israel excuses to continue its genocide (or so it seems to This Writer).

Here’s commentary by the ever-brilliant Jess Barnard:

There will be consequences for this – but it seems Starmer is gambling that too few voters will impose those consequences on him:

This Writer abandoned the tactical vote campaign some time ago. I advocate voters actually carrying out their civic duty, which is to read the manifestos and election literature of all candidates in your constituency and vote for whichever of them offers the best package for youNothing else should matter to you – certainly not which of the mainstream Establishment parties (Labour, the Tories, possibly the Liberal Democrats) should form a government.

This is the only way to achieve the change the UK needs and it is ironic that it requires us to do nothing more than what we should always have been doing anyway.

It certainly seems that some Labour MPs will face stern repercussions – such as those in the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group – if they oppose a motion that may help end the murder of innocent people, including children:

The three-line whip claim has been confirmed by ITV political editor Robert Peston. Commentators are asking an obvious question about it:

He’s no kind of leader if he can’t inspire his people to follow him; it strongly suggests that his entire approach is wrong.

And that suggests that we would be wrong to vote for him or his party in an election.

Commentators have already chosen their sides. You can tell from the tone of this article where This Writer stands, and here’s John Smith, son of the late and much-loved Harry Leslie Smith:

If the ceasefire motion is voted down, it will be a clear indication that our MPs are indeed in Parliament for the welfare of the few – the few in question being the Israeli government, its supporters, lobbyists and mouthpieces.

We know from events leading up to the start of World War II that appeasement does not work. If our MPs offer Israel an inch, it will try to take every square mile of Gaza. We must therefore judge our MPs on what they choose today – and respond harshly if their choice is wrong.


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Weekend of protests as conditions in Gaza worsen due to Israel’s genocide

Protests have been happening – not just in the UK but around the world, including Israel – as that country’s genocide in Gaza worsens, and it continues its persecution of Palestinians elsewhere.

Here’s what has been happening in Gaza recently. Be warned – it isn’t easy to see.

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https://twitter.com/AbujomaaGaza/status/1759179315436995009

But Gaza isn’t the only place where Palestinians are being mistreated by Israelis. Read what follows to see Israel’s habitual treatment of Palestinians.

Now consider this: an organisation exists that encourages former Israel Defence Force personnel to confess the crimes they have committed while in uniform or on active duty.

 

 

It should hardly be surprising that protests have been taking place against Israel – across the world, including in Tel Aviv:

Members of the UK Labour Party have no power to stop the genocide in Gaza – other than in voting for the UK to call for a ceasefire during a motion in Parliament. Strangely, they seem unwilling to do this – and so they have attracted what many consider entirely justified criticism.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands:

In London there was yet another big demonstration over the weekend – bigger, it seems, than BBC News was prepared to admit:

Will any of the above affect the Scottish National Party’s ceasefire vote, that we think will be held on Wednesday (February 21)?


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More than a quarter of Labour MPs rebel against Starmer over Gaza vote

Keir Starmer: yet ANOTHER own goal.

Keir Starmer is looking for eight new junior ministers and two Parliamentary aides after a major rebellion within the Parliamentary Labour Party against his policy on the Gaza conflict.

Shadow ministers Jess Phillips, Afzal Khan, Yasmin Qureshi, Paula Barker, Sarah Owen, Rachel Hopkins, Naz Shah and Andy Slaughter left their roles after supporting an SNP motion for a ceasefire. Starmer had submitted a motion calling for “humanitarian pauses”.

Dan Carden and Mary Foy left posts as parliamentary aides.

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In all, 56 of the 198 Labour MPs voted for a ceasefire. 160 voted to support Starmer’s “humanitarian pauses”, meaning 18 supported both motions.

According to the BBC,

In a statement after the vote, Sir Keir said he regretted the vote of some of his party.

“I regret that some colleagues felt unable to support the position tonight. But I wanted to be clear about where I stood, and where I will stand”.

He said Israel had suffered “its worst terrorist attack in a single day” at the hands of Hamas on 7 October.

“No government would allow the capability and intent to repeat such an attack to go unchallenged,” he added.

But this is nonsense when compared with what Israel has actually done – which is killing more than 11,000 civilians including 4,500 children. There is no evidence that any of Hamas’s attack capability has been damaged.

The Labour rebels have also had a lot to say, both before and after the vote. See for yourself:

Others have also had their say:

Both motions were overturned – the ceasefire call by a margin of 294 votes against to 125 in favour, with the Conservatives providing the heaviest opposition. There was considerable response to these outcomes, also:

I wonder how many people have been killed in Gaza since the vote – on either side of the conflict. All those deaths should hang on the consciences of the MPs who voted for the killing to continue.


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Labour motion on Gaza may split the party’s MPs

Keir Starmer: his support for Israel will split the Labour Party.

Keir Starmer: what a spectacular way to throw away electoral superiority.

Only a few weeks ago, he was set to lead his hollowed-out, right-wing Labour Party to victory in the next general election.

But now, because he blindly supports Israel in its genocide of the people of Gaza, he seems certain to split his own MPs in a vote on the conflict, to take place on November 15.

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Here’s the BBC:

The party said its Commons motion would reflect its “concerns” over the lack of aid reaching Gaza and the “scale of civilian casualties”.

But it will echo the Labour leader’s position, and stop short of urging an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

Dozens of Labour MPs have defied their leader to call for a ceasefire.

And 19 members of the frontbench have also publicly diverged from their party’s official position.

One of them, shadow minister Imran Hussain, quit his position last week in order to campaign for an immediate ceasefire.

In addition, nearly 50 councillors have resigned from the party, over the leadership’s position on the war.

Sir Keir has argued that a ceasefire would not be appropriate, because it would freeze the conflict and embolden Hamas.

Instead, Labour, like the Conservative government, the United States and the European Union, is calling for “humanitarian pauses” to help aid reach Gaza.

Compared with a formal ceasefire, these pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours. And they are implemented with the aim of providing humanitarian support only, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.

So Starmer wants to modify the Israeli strategy away from murdering everybody in Gaza – genocide – to making it possible for everybody in Gaza to leave and become refugees elsewhere – another Nakba.

Israel would probably be fine with this. Israel just wants the land, to destroy Palestine and to remove any evidence that Palestine ever existed.

Evidence:

Killing all the Palestinians would be Israel’s favourite way of achieving this; nobody would be left to try to take revenge. But depriving Palestinians of any ability to take revenge anyway would be an acceptable second choice – to that country.

To the international community, both propositions should be out of the question. Palestine has the right to exist.

Consider the following:

Obviously the post is responding to criticism of Jeremy Corbyn for refusing to use pejorative language when referring to Hamas. But the blueprint for peace talks that it mentions is good. Isn’t it?

An amendment by the SNP calls for an immediate ceasefire – as demanded by some Labour MPs:

This Writer has no idea why Lorna MacGillivray mentions Scottish independence. The rest is all good stuff though – isn’t it?

And that is the reason Labour MPs were expected to be… uncomfortable… on the night before the vote:

So Labour is likely to split over this vote and Starmer is going to have to make some heads roll – or look weak. And he’ll still lose votes.

And the motion will fail because the Tories will just steamroller it with their huge majority.

That’s the reason this happened:

In a nutshell, then:

Labour leader Keir Starmer wants his party to vote for “humanitarian pauses” that will help get humanitarian support to the people of Gaza – but not for a ceasefire that could lead to a negotiated peace settlement; the demand will split the party. And the Tory Party will vote down the motion anyway.


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Labour links up with the Tories to betray democracy and make UK a police state

Sad: once again, Labour has proved this to be true.

The Labour Party has again proved how harmful it is – and not just by supporting the Tory bid to kill democracy.

But let’s start with thatanyway. On June 13, 2023, the Conservative government ended democratic government in the UK by reversing a change in its Public Order Act that had been approved by Parliament, using secondary legislation – a ‘ministerial decree’ – that is not ratified by a vote.

It means the changes imposed on new laws during their passage through Parliament may now be pointless, because the government may simply – and unilaterally – reverse them all after they gain Royal Assent.

We might as well not bother having a Parliament any more.

The Green Party’s Baroness Jenny Jones tried to safeguard democracy by tabling a ‘fatal motion’ that would have put a stop to the ‘ministerial decree’. This was the only way to force a vote on it.

But she needed support from Labour peers to win that vote – and Labour said it would not help because that would go against some old Parliamentary convention. It’s the flimsiest excuse ever.

Instead, Labour offered up a lame ‘motion of regret’, paying lip service to the idea of opposition by saying the party does not approve but actually doing nothing at all to stop the Tories from trampling all over democracy.

The disappointment – no, the disgust – is huge, especially from one Labour Lord:

He was an exception. Most Labour peers did as Lord Coaker describes in the following video clip which triggered a particularly strong response from the CWU’s Peter Stefanovic:

Peter had campaigned to make people aware of the ‘fatal motion’, and to get us to urge the Labour peers to support it, since Baroness Jones tabled it. You can feel his bitterness and anger welling up in the following tweet and as one of the signatories, This Writer shares it:

But there’s more.

This isn’t even Labour’s only betrayal of the day.

It seems that, in another attempt to claim “fiscal responsibility” from the Tories, Labour has decided to take away support for childcare from millions of parents, making it impractical for them to go out to work for a living. It’s a blow against millions of families and crippling to the UK’s struggling economy, and Keir Starmer’s party has the nerve to claim it’s a sign of responsibility.

Thank goodness Jeremy Corbyn is settling into his new role of pointing out that Keir Starmer and his people are hateful:

Of course it’s yet another u-turn for Starmer:

How many’s that, now?

Still… Out with an old promise; in with a new one. Right?

Here’s the new promise of the day – and a spot opinion on it.

In fact, I think Labour might actually stick with this one because a Labour government wouldn’t have to pay for it.

In spite of all of the above, there is one way – just one – in which Labour can still claim to be of use to the UK population at large…

… that is by flagging up the failures of the Tory government with facts and figures.

But don’t expect a Labour government under Keir Starmer to ever do anything to improve the situation because all he has to offer are missed opportunities and broken promises.


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BBC finally reports on Public Order Act ‘fatal motion’ – misleadingly

Baroness Jenny Jones: she wants to stop the Tory government from killing democracy but needs the help of Labour Lords. They seem determined not to, for fear that they’ll appear to be in the pocket of Just Stop Oil. How ridiculous.

This was a surprise when it appeared on my screen.

The BBC has finally acknowledged that a – democratic – attempt is being made to stop the Tories from undemocratically changing their own anti-protest law to make it even harsher.

A story appeared on the “politics” page of the broadcaster’s news website yesterday – June 12 – just one day before Baroness Jenny Jones’s ‘fatal motion’ was due to be debated in the House of Lords.

This is a failure of the public service broadcaster in its duty to inform.

I state this because there has been an appeal for the public to ask Labour Lords to support the motion, ever since Baroness Jones tabled it, several weeks ago, with a petition that its organisers begged for media organisations to publicise.

Some of us did, and the petition has gathered more than 50,000 signatures. But those of us who operate within the social media have a readership that is limited by algorithms run by platforms like Facebook (that want to make us pay for a wider circulation), meaning the number of people who would have wanted to sign the petition if they saw it has also been limited.

Think how many people may have signed that petition if the BBC had mentioned it!

Considered that way, one might believe the BBC’s failure to mention it to be political interference on the part of the broadcaster. And the ‘fatal motion’ was important news when it was announced; why did the BBC (and other mass media organisations; let’s spread the blame) fail to report it?

For clarity, the Tory plan is to use a “ministerial decree” – secondary legislation that does not require a democratic vote – to change the Public Order Act and insert a change that was removed by Parliament when the Act was debated there prior to being passed into law.

This would create a dangerous precedent for governments to bypass democracy, reversing changes to legislation that have been made by Parliament without allowing MPs and peers to vote on the reversals.

In this instance, the change would alter the definition of “serious disruption” of people’s day-to-day activities by protest action to mean “anything other than minor” – meaning police would be empowered to arrest anybody taking part in large-scale protest demonstrations (for example), but also meaning that small-scale activities would lead to arrests if people said they were inconvenienced even slightly.

Labour has put forward a “motion of regret” which will do nothing to prevent the ministerial decree from passing into law. This is pointless.

That’s why the petition calls on the Labour Lords to support Baroness Jones’s fatal motion that would stop the ministerial decree altogether.

Sadly, Labour’s position appears to be not to support the motion for fear that it would allow the Tories to say the party is in the pocket of protest movement Just Stop Oil, one of whose members has been revealed to be a donor to the Labour Party.

And the BBC article presents the change as being merely a clarification of the Public Order Act, rather than the dangerous and undemocratic change that it actually is.

If the Tories get away with this, it will be exactly what is meant by the old saying that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.


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Reminder: ‘fatal motion’ to stop undemocratic restriction of right to protest is TOMORROW. Please sign the petition

The Lords will consider a ‘fatal motion’ on a Tory plan to undemocratically restrict your right to protest – TOMORROW (Tuesday, June 13).

There is a petition for Labour Lords to back this motion, rather than a “motion of regret” that will let the Tory change happen – and I urge you to sign it if you haven’t already.

Here’s the background information:

The Tories aren’t happy with all the power they’ve given the police to stamp on your right to protest.

They reckon the interpretation of ‘serious disruption’ of other people’s day-to-day activities, as described in the Public Order Act, should be changed to mean ‘anything more than minor’.

But instead of seeking a democratic vote on this potentially wide-ranging and serious change, Rishi Sunak’s gang of bandits want to impose it by ‘Ministerial decree’ – basically, by the Home Secretary saying she’s changing it unilaterally – like a dictator.

It’s the first time ever that a government has used what’s known as secondary legislation to overturn the democratic will of Parliament.

Green Party Baroness Jenny Jones isn’t having it. She has tabled a ‘fatal motion’ against it.

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has drawn ‘special attention’ to the change. The committee’s report stated: “As well as not justifying the substance of the provisions, the Home Office has not provided any reasons for bringing the measures back in the form of secondary legislation, which is subject to less scrutiny, so soon after they were rejected in primary legislation... We believe this raises possible constitutional issues that the House may wish to consider.”

there is no point in having Parliament if a Minister can just ignore the outcome of debates and votes by imposing draconian laws on the public.

If this motion fails, we might as well give up and accept that the UK has finally become a right-wing dictatorship.