What does the SNP’s motion and vote on Gaza mean for Labour?

With the death toll in Gaza steadily moving up every day, the SNP has tabled a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire, putting Labour in an uncomfortable place, as Sean O’Grady explains the context of the move and asks what it will achieve

The SNP, led in Westminster by Stephen Flynn, have called for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ (PA)

Since the Hamas atrocities in Israel on 7 October and the war that followed, the Labour Party has found itself in a series of dilemmas about what its policy on the conflict should be. The need to recognise Israel’s right to defend itself and condemn terror has had to be reconciled increasingly uneasily with Israel’s response – one that has led to the charge of genocide being considered at the International Court of Justice.

Some Muslim Labour supporters, including MPs, councillors and candidates, have found Keir Starmer’s past reluctance to call for an immediate ceasefire difficult to accept, and many others, not just on the left, share that view. In trying to root out antisemitism in his party as well as resist Islamophobia, he has found himself losing two of his party’s parliamentary candidates.

Now the SNP, Labour’s main rival north of the border, has tabled another Commons motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with a debate and vote on Wednesday. Starmer has had to react – and hold his party together...