The government has now tabled its own amendment to the SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. This change to the text calls for ‘negotiations to agree an immediate humanitarian pause as the best way to stop the fighting’, and then ‘moves towards a permanent sustainable ceasefire’. It also says that a ceasefire requires all hostages to be released, the formation of a new Palestinian government and – crucially – ‘Hamas to be unable to launch further attacks and no longer in charge of Gaza, and a credible pathway to a two-state solution’.
It’s worth remembering that this is an Opposition Day debate, which is not binding on the government at all, and thus far the pressure has been on Labour, rather than Conservative, MPs. The SNP’s Westminster group leader Stephen Flynn addressed his open letter to Labour backbenchers, rather than Conservatives, and the government can put the whole debate on a one line whip for its own MPs to take the heat out of it and suggest they don’t turn up at all.
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