Preston mosques call on Starmer to resign over Gaza

A city's mosque leaders are urging Labour councillors to ask Sir Keir Starmer to resign for refusing to back a Gaza ceasefire.

Preston's ruling Labour group has said it supports a ceasefire but Sir Keir has argued that is "not the correct position" at the moment.

Preston's 20 mosques have set a deadline of 17:00 GMT for councillors to sign a letter calling for him to go.

One of the Muslim community leaders described it as an "Iraq War moment".

Israel began striking Gaza after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which saw 1,400 people killed and more than 200 taken hostage

More than 10,800 people have been killed in Gaza since, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including more than 4,400 children.

The US said on Thursday Israel would begin to implement four-hour military pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day to allow civilians to flee, although there have been no immediate reports of a lull in fighting in the Gaza strip.

Councillors have been advised by the mosques that the names of those who put pen to paper on the joint letter calling for Sir Keir's resignation "will be shared with the communities that we serve".

The ruling Labour group on Preston City Council has issued an open response to the mosques, shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), which reiterates the local party's call for a ceasefire.

However, it added that councillors were "limited in our capacity to influence national and international decision-making".

Mukhtar Master, the Muslim lead on Preston's faith covenant, said that the city's mosques "could not sit idly by and allow the atrocities [in Gaza] to continue without any opposition".

He told LDRS: "The Muslim community have historically supported the Labour Party, yet have found the current leader out of touch with public sentiment."

Preston City Council's 31 ruling Labour members broke ranks with the national party almost a fortnight ago by calling for a ceasefire in the conflict - but were still later accused, after a meeting with the Muslim community, of a "lame" response to the situation.

The Labour group's open response to the mosques' demands added: "We are in active discussion with all our communities in Preston, including our Muslim community, as we understand the strong feelings that exist regarding this ongoing conflict.

"We have made our position clear that, as a Labour group, we back the call for an immediate ceasefire and [were] one of the first to do so."

Sir Keir Starmer has supported Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's call for a "pause" in the fighting in order to allow aid into Gaza and to attempt to get hostages out, but he has said that a ceasefire at the moment would simply enable Hamas to stay in control of the territory.

He previously said his focus was on the Middle East and alleviating suffering, not calls from his own party to resign.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]