By Sam Francis
Political reporter, BBC News
Labour is considering backing a SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the shadow foreign secretary has said.
David Lammy said he will “scrutinise” the motion ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
It comes three months after 10 Labour frontbench MPs resigned to support a previous SNP motion on the issue.
After Scottish Labour endorsed a near identical motion on Saturday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Gaza conflict “must stop now”.
In a speech to Scottish Labour delegates on Sunday, Sir Keir said: “I have just returned from the Munich Security Conference where every conversation I had came back to the situation in Israel and Gaza.”
The Labour leader said everyone wanted an end to the fighting, “not just for now, not just for a pause, but permanently”.
“A ceasefire that lasts. That is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now.”
Earlier, Mr Lammy told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg it was “abominable” that “over 28,000 people have lost their lives” including women and children.
But he said that any proposal must include a permanent solution to stop the conflict.
“Of course, people want to see a ceasefire, the question now is how. When that ceasefire comes we can’t see the fighting restart,” he added.
But he said he had not seen the SNP’s proposed amendment and was not convinced that the wording being posted online gave detail’s of a “sustainable” ceasefire.
Mr Lammy warned that parliamentary votes in the UK “will not bring about a ceasefire”.
He said an agreement would need to come from Hamas, the Israeli government and “partners for peace saying the fighting must now stop”.
On Saturday, Anas Sarwar – the leader of the party in Scotland – described the SNP motion as “perfectly reasonable”.
Labour has consistently argued that any ceasefire must be sustainable while yesterday Scottish Labour backed an “immediate” ceasefire at its conference.
Open letter from SNP
The Gaza conflict was debated during the second day of the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow. The ceasefire motion was passed unopposed by delegates.
It urges an end to rocket fire into and out of Gaza, the unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas, the restoration of essential supplies and a pathway to peace.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, has written an open letter to MPs to back his party’s opposition day motion calling “for an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
“It’s essential that the UK changes course now and backs an immediate ceasefire without further delay,” he said.
If passed, the motion is not binding on the government. Instead, they typically expressive opposition MPs position on a particular issue.
Mr Sarwar said there was no “distance” between Scottish Labour’s position and Sir Keir – despite the Labour leader failing to use the term “immediate ceasefire” in his speech.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Sarwar said: “The entire UK Labour party want to see the violence stop right now, we want to see a ceasefire.”
Mr Sarwar said Labour had been in touch with the SNP’s whips about the wording of the ceasefire motion that will be voted on this Wednesday. However, the SNP’s chief whip, Owen Thompson, denied there had been any contact.
If there is a split in opinion in the party, then Labour’s two Scottish MPs – Michael Shanks and Ian Murray – will have to decide whether to follow the views expressed in the Scottish Labour motion and therefore side with the SNP.
Both MPs abstained in the November vote.
In total, 56 of Labour’s then 198 MPs joined other opposition parties in backing the SNP’s motion
