More than 1,000 UK MPs have signed a pledge to support the Palestinians ahead of May’s local elections.
The Palestine Council Pledge, launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in December, urges politicians to take steps to “defend the rights” of Palestinians, “stand up to Israel against its crimes of genocide and apartheid” and ensure the council is “not complicit”.
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According to the campaign, 1,152 current members of Congress have signed the pledge. Of these, 387 were from the Green Party, 375 from the ruling Labor Party, and 115 from the Liberal Democratic Party.
Signatories include five Conservative councilors, as well as hundreds of other signatories from the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Scottish Greens, local political parties and independents. None of the candidates from the far-right party Reform Britain have signed the pledge.
The initiative, which will be open to all candidates in March, is co-ordinated by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by Vote Palestine, a grassroots campaign sponsored by the British Palestine Youth Movement, the British Palestine Forum, Muslim Vote and the British Palestine Committee.
It aims to pressure the council to adopt policies in line with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, such as stripping pension funds from companies linked to Israeli arms production.
According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, local government pension scheme funds managed by the council have invested more than 12.2 billion pounds ($16.5 billion) in companies that are complicit in violating international law.
The campaign says 31 parliaments have passed motions or issued statements supporting divestment of pension funds. According to the report, 46% of voters support divestment, compared to 14% who oppose it.
Supporters say the movement was inspired by the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, when more than 100 local authorities banned South African products from offices and schools, and others stopped investing pension funds in companies with South African subsidiaries.
Mr Corbyn backs campaign
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has backed moves to make Palestine a central issue in local elections in 2026. In a post to X, he wrote, “Let this election make the Palestinian issue non-negotiable.” He called on campaigners to back the People’s Pledge, in which supporters pledge to only support council candidates who support Vote Palestine.
Signatories of the Candidate Pledge include Green Party deputy leader Mohsin Ali and Trafford councilor Hannah Spencer, Gorton Denton by-election candidate. Matthew Brown, Labor leader on Preston City Council. Ayub Khan is an independent member of Parliament and a member of Birmingham City Council.
May’s local elections are widely seen as a litmus test for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor government, which has faced its lowest poll numbers since the 2024 election. Critics inside and outside the party have linked some of the complaints to Israel’s response to the atrocities in Gaza.
With all London parliamentary seats, traditionally a Labor stronghold, up for election, campaigners believe a vote for Palestine could influence the outcome in closely contested areas.
Labor now has a majority in Hackney, north London, and faces challenges from the Green Party and the Independent Socialists. All six Green councilors in the ward have signed the pledge, compared to three from Labor.
“We have all seen the devastation caused by Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, but no one has felt it more deeply than the Hackney residents I spoke to who lost family members in Palestine,” said Zoe Garbett, Hackney Green councilor and mayoral candidate.
“The council took a stand against apartheid in South Africa and now it must do the same for the Palestinians.”
The left-wing wing of the Labor Party also supports this pledge. Richard Burgon, Labor MP for Leeds East, said: “Keir Starmer’s refusal to stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people is wrong and has already hurt Labor badly at the polls. We saw it at the last general election and I fear it will happen again at local elections in May.”
He added that the government “needs to listen to the voices of MPs demanding action against Israel’s genocide and war crimes” and to act before further damage occurs and we lose hard-working and principled MPs.
Pro-Palestinian candidate escapes from prison
The campaign comes amid legal issues surrounding Palestinian activist groups. Earlier this month, the High Court ruled that the decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws was unlawful, but the ban remains in place after the Home Office was allowed to challenge the decision.
One of its alleged members, Am Gibb, is running as a candidate for Islington Council in London’s Finsbury Park while in prison. He went on a 49-day hunger strike last year.
Mr Gibb was arrested by counter-terrorism police on suspicion of trespassing at RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest air force base. The trial is ongoing. The charges relate to allegations that aircraft used to support Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza were destroyed.
Gibb also took part in a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners, which ended after the government decided not to award arms company Elbit Systems UK a contract worth 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion).
In a statement sent from prison, Gibb told Al Jazeera that he was campaigning on a platform that called for “no more endless wars” and action on housing and food poverty. If elected, campaigners claim he would be the first prisoner to be elected to public office while imprisoned in Britain since Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands won a seat in Parliament in 1981.
Dan Eiley-Williamson, political organizer for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “The mass movement for Palestine that has brought millions to the streets of the UK is not going away. Vote Palestine will take our demands to the May election and send a message to those seeking public office. If you want our vote, stand up for Palestine.”
