Fifteen Scottish Labour officers resign over Gaza policy

Fifteen Labour officers have resigned over party rules about responding to the conflict in Gaza.

Nine officers in a Glasgow ward, including a Labour peer, and six in Edinburgh stood down.

The Glasgow Kelvin officers accused Scottish Labour of "stifling democracy" after a motion calling for an end to military action was ruled out of order.

Scottish Labour said it condemned Hamas's actions and the collective punishment of Palestinian people.

In Glasgow's Kelvin Labour Party, chairman Jim Mackechnie and Labour Peer Baroness Bryan resigned alongside seven others including the secretary, policy officer and trades union liaison officer.

They had submitted a motion urging Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call for a cessation of Israeli military action, the establishment of a humanitarian corridor and the release of hostages.

In a letter of resignation they said: "We have been informed by the general secretary and the Scottish general secretary that any motions relating to the situation in Israel and Gaza are out of order for all CLPs."

It said they were being "forced to shut down discussion", and they refused to be "part of a party machinery which stifles democracy".

Six members of the Edinburgh Northern and Leith Executive Committee also stood down.

A statement from the party said: "Scottish Labour has repeatedly and unequivocally condemned the actions of Hamas. There is no justification for the loss of innocent life and the targeting of civilians.

"Every life should be treated equally and so there should be no collective punishment of the Palestinian people."

It added: "The Labour Party continues to believe strongly in the cause of peace in the region through a two-state solution that delivers security, peace and freedom for all through a sovereign state of Israel and a sovereign state of Palestine with an end to occupation and the siege."

Over the past 10 days eight Labour councillors in Oxford have quit the party over comments from Sir Keir Starmer on the Israel-Hamas war, losing the party its majority in the city council.

The Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 220 hostage.

Gaza's health ministry said more than 4,600 people had been killed in the territory since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes to weaken Hamas.

Coll McCail, a young members representative on Labour's Scottish Executive Committee (SEC), told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme the labour leadership was out of step with the British public, after a recent poll showed more than 70% supported a ceasefire.

"I think the UK Labour leadership have failed continually to show leadership in this situation to oppose the UK government in their outright support for Israel as it launches an inhuman offensive against the people of Gaza," he said.

He said Labour members resigning over this issue would be detrimental in the run up to a general election campaign.

"If it's the case as we've seen in Edinburgh and Glasgow that members are taking action and resigning their position over this issue, then it is detrimental not just to the party's reputation but materially in the run up a general election campaign."

He said Sir Keir had failed to show solidarity with the people of Palestine who had been "under siege for decades".

Mr McCail said Mr Sarwar had already "deviated" from the UK Labour general secretary's advice that Labour's elected representatives should not attend demonstrations.

Scottish Labour sent MSP Pauline Mc Neill to speak at a demonstration attended by thousands of people in Glasgow on Saturday.

She told the crowd she spoke for Scottish Labour, who wanted to be part of a growing movement across the world demanding an end of a "cycle of murderous violence in the region", the release of "all Israeli hostages without delay", and the "cessation of the revenge war on the people in Gaza".

Ms McNeill said she had seen the "daily suffering of the ordinary people of Gaza" on visits to the region and railed against the Israeli government's actions, adding "no mother, Jewish, Israeli or Palestinian should be unable to protect their children from death".

Former Labour adviser John McTernan told Good Morning Scotland the Labour party was justified in asking elected members to follow long-standing party rules.

"The motion was to press for Israel's military action to stop. That's not a ceasefire, that's militarily standing down," he said, adding Hamas was not offering a ceasefire.

"You can't have a ceasefire without both sides agreeing."

He added: "Hamas seek to sow division.

"The right end point in this, as Scottish Labour said, is a two-state solution. Hamas do not want a two-state solution, they want a one state solution, a state of Palestine without Israel.

"We have to work hard on moving toward peace, but in the meantime humanitarian support is absolutely critical."

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has said his mother-in-law and her husband were living through "torture" as they remain stuck in Gaza.

Their family was down to six bottles of clean drinking water in a home now accommodating 100 people, he said.

Israel, which normally supplies less than 10% of Gaza's water but about a third of the clean drinking water, has cut off supplies during the conflict.

Mr Yousaf said he was pleading with the UK government to demand the opening of Egypt's Rafah crossing and a ceasefire.