Politics latest: Keir Starmer confirms Palestine stance amid protests at start of UK tour

Recognition of the state of Palestine as part of a Middle East peace process is an ‘undeniable right’, Sir Keir Starmer told president Mahmoud Abbas today.

The prime minister spoke to the Palestinian president on Sunday about the ‘ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life’ in Gaza.

Sir Keir also spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, setting out the ‘clear and urgent’ need for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages snatched by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.

Labour’s election manifesto committed the party to recognising a Palestinian state as part of a process that results in a two-state solution alongside Israel.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘The Prime Minister said he was pleased to be able to speak to President Abbas so early in his tenure, given the pressing issues in the region, ongoing suffering, and devastating loss of life in Gaza.

‘The Prime Minister updated President Abbas on his immediate priorities, including securing a ceasefire, the return of hostages, an increase and acceleration in humanitarian aid and financial support for the Palestinian Authority.

‘Discussing the importance of reform, and ensuring international legitimacy for Palestine, the Prime Minister said that his longstanding policy on recognition to contribute to a peace process had not changed, and it was the undeniable right of Palestinians.’

In his call with Mr Netanyahu, the Prime Minister ‘reiterated his condolences for the tragic loss of life following the October attacks’ and then set out the ‘clear and urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians’.

“He added that it was also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.”

Sir Keir also said the situation on the northern border of Israel, where exchanges of fire with Lebanon-based Hezbollah have been taking place, was ‘very concerning’ and it was ‘crucial all parties acted with caution’.

Labour’s position on Gaza and its initial refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire cost the party votes and seats despite its general election landslide.

Frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth was unseated by an independent in Leicester South in part because of the party’s stance on the issue.

During the Prime Minister’s visit to Scotland on Sunday, pro-Palestinian protesters lined the streets outside Bute House in anticipation of his arrival.

Sir Keir Starmer has been pictured arriving in Edinburgh today as he gets his UK tour under way.

The new prime minister will make his way around Scotland before heading onto Northern Ireland and Wales.

He said his Labour government would serve ‘the entirety of Scotland’ and that he was seeking an ‘immediate reset’ of the relationship between the Westminster government and other UK nations.

Appearing alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Sir Keir said: ‘We have this team to be part of a government, sitting on the government benches, all working to deliver for Scotland.

‘This team here, the whole of the Labour Party in government and myself, delivering for Scotland.’

He added: ‘We govern humbly, saying thank you to every single person in Scotland who put their trust and faith in the Labour Party to bring about the change that they need.

‘To those people who didn’t vote Labour, I want to directly address you too because we will serve the entirety of Scotland, we’ll serve every single person in Scotland because that change matters to everyone and that is how we go forward.’

A piano and sofa are some of the items that have been removed from Downing Street following the election.

Keir Starmer said: ‘We’re not unpacked quite yet, but we will be soon and we’ll be moving in soon but there’s a bit of work to do before then.’

Rishi Sunak lived in the flat above No 10 while Jeremy Hunt had the larger flat above No 11.

Prime ministers in recent years had favoured the No 11 residence, but Sunak had lived above No 10 as chancellor and moved back in with his family when he became prime minister.

The new PM is carrying out calls with international leaders after winning the General Election.

It is his first chance to discuss shared interests and also, sometimes, to signal a change from the previous government.

Starmer spoke to the Palestinian president about the ‘ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life’ in Gaza.

He also spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu, setting out the ‘clear and urgent’ need for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages snatched by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister said he was pleased to be able to speak to President Abbas so early in his tenure, given the pressing issues in the region, ongoing suffering, and devastating loss of life in Gaza.

‘The Prime Minister updated President Abbas on his immediate priorities, including securing a ceasefire, the return of hostages, an increase and acceleration in humanitarian aid and financial support for the Palestinian Authority.

‘Discussing the importance of reform, and ensuring international legitimacy for Palestine, the Prime Minister said that his longstanding policy on recognition to contribute to a peace process had not changed, and it was the undeniable right of Palestinians.’

In his call with Netanyahu, the Prime Minister ‘reiterated his condolences for the tragic loss of life following the October attacks’ and then set out the ‘clear and urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians’.

‘He added that it was also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.’

The new foreign secretary David Lammy has said that the Labour government will put Brexit behind them.

He is starting a trip in Europe in Poland and Sweden later today.

Lammy’s German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, said Germany was working with the new Labour government to see how the country could move closer to the European Union.

Writing in the Sunday’s Observer, Lammy said: ‘Let us put the Brexit years behind us.

‘We are not going to re-join the single market and the customs union but there is much that we can do together.’

Sir Keir Starmer will visit Edinburgh later today as he kicks off a tour of the devolved nations to improve relations with them.

In the meantime, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has also hit the ground running with a visit to Belfast.

Jenrick said it would be ‘self-indulgent’ to talk about whether he would run for Tory leader just three days after the election.

He said he wants to ensure the party recognises what went wrong first.

In terms of the leadership contest he said he would support a longer campaign.

His party needs time to ‘think very carefully’ about what happened, move forward, and hold the new Labour government to account, he confirmed.

Atkins was pressed on whether she will run for the Tory leadership and said: ‘For anyone at this stage to be talking about their own ambitions goes to what we were talking about at the very beginning… which is politics and the Conservative Party need to be at the forefront of whatever we’re talking about.’

She said that when a contest is held, she hopes the party will unite around a central message.

Despite the worst result in its political history at the General Election, the former health secretary Victoria Atkins insists the country is ‘instinctively Conservative’.

She said: ‘We know the country is instinctively Conservative – in terms of their values and instincts.’

But she said there was an issue of trust, as well as delivery, integrity and values and said the party lost good colleagues.

The support for Labour is ‘spread very thinly’ and her party needs to rebuild, she says.

‘It has been 72 hours. We haven’t even met yet as a parliamentary party. I imagine we will want to be looking at how we delivered on our policies.’

The business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been asked by Laura Kuenssberg how the party will tackle the rise of Reform UK.

He said he spoke to ‘good people who voted Reform’.

‘They now have MPs,’ he adds. ‘A party like Reform will now come under scrutiny.’

He said he is looking forward to challenging Reform’s policy ideas in the Commons.

Former Conservative immigration minister Robert Jenrick has wrote in the Sunday Times this weekend and said the Tories lost the election ‘because we got Brexit done but nothing else’.

‘This was the Conservative Party’s worst result for centuries,’ Jenrick said.

‘Not only did we lose almost all of the ‘red’ and ‘blue’ walls, but vast swathes of our inner heartlands too.

‘The public have had enough and want to see that we are an effective and serious opposition. We owe that to the country.’

The new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to start a UK tour today as he plans to rebuild England’s relationship with the devolved nations.

Starmer said he wants a ‘different and better’ way of working across the UK – and is offering the Scottish government a ‘genuine seat at the table’.

He got down to work on Friday appointing senior cabinet ministers and has also made some key appointments from the Blair and Brown years including Jacqui Smith and Douglas Alexander.

It comes as the new government plans to scrap the opposition’s highly controversial plans to deport thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers to Rwanda. 

PA news agency is reporting that at least seven MPs won seats at the recent general election with majorities of less than 100 votes. 

These include Labour MPs David Pinto-Duschinsky for Hendon, Neil Duncan-Jordan for Poole and Sam Carling for Cambridgeshire North West, Conservative MPs Richard Holden for Basildon and Billericay, Mel Stride for Devon Central and Alan Mak for Hampshire, as well as Reform MP Basildon South and East Thurrock. 

The smallest majority was held by Pinto-Duschinsky, with less than 15 votes. Roughly twenty MPs are understood to have won with majorities under 500.

Meanwhile, another eight MPs, including Labour’s Peter Dowd in Bootle and Catherine West in Hornsey & Friern Barnet, won with thumping majorities of over 20,000.

The President of the United States has congratulated Labour on one ‘hell of a victory’ at the parliamentary polls this week. 

Calling Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer from Air Force One, Joe Biden said: ‘There’s no doubt that under your leadership our two countries are going to continue our special relationship. 

‘We’re working together on just about every issue – supporting Ukraine, managing the competition with China, advancing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.’

It follows as Starmer announces further additions to his cabinet, with Ellie Reeves to serve as minister without portfolio, Dan Jarvis as a Home Office minister, Jim McMahon and Matthew Pennycook as levelling up ministers, Douglas Alexander as a business and trade minister, and Jacqui Smith as an education minister. 

David Lammy has already been appointed Foreign Secretary, with Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary and Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister.

The Press Association has suggested that fewer people turned out to participate in the recent general election than at any other in the last 20 years. 

Overall turnout reportedly stood at just under 60%, roughly seven percent lower than the turnout for 2019, and only marginally better than the 59.4% of people who turned out in 2001.

The number of people participating in UK general elections has been steadily declining throughout the past eighty years or so, dropping from 83.9% in 1950 to around 70% in the 1970s.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the recent polls make them the most decisive and consequential in recent political history, with almost half of all seats across the commons changing hands.

Sir Keir Starmer has said his party will axe Conservative plans to deport thousands of refugees from the UK to Rwanda. 

The highly controversial scheme had faced significant legal challenges since its introduction in 2022, with only one asylum seeker being sent to the African country – and voluntarily at that, in exchange for roughly £3,000. 

Addressing the press today after his party’s landslide victory at the polls this week, Starmer said: ‘The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent.

‘I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent.’

After two recounts, Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire in Scotland has finally been called for the Lib Dems – and with it, the final seat count for parliament. 

The numbers now stand at 412 for Labour, 121 for the Tories, 72 for the Lib Dems, 9 for the SNP and 5 for Reform. 

Roughly half of those who have won seats in this election are new MPs, representing their constituencies for the first time, with around 15 people returning after a gap in their political career. 

The split between men and women is shaping up at about 60/40, Sky News reports.

Police have detained at least four people over their participation in a march against the ongoing war in Gaza. 

One man was reportedly arrested over an allegedly racist placard, while three others were held for allegedly breaching the Public Order Act.

The protest comes on Sir Keir Starmer’s first day as prime minister, following an election campaign in which the Labour leader’s position on the conflict cost the party a handful of seats to independent candidates. 

Five seats have been won by figures who campaigned against Labour’s stance on the war, including former party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North, Shockat Adam in Leicester South and Ayoub Khan in Birmingham Perry Barr.