British relatives of Hamas hostages urge PM to rule out Palestinian state recognition until they are freed – UK politics live

<p>Lawyers representing families of hostages say Starmer’s plan to recognise Palestinian state in September risks disincentivising release of captives</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/29/uk-to-recognise-state-of-palestine-in-september-unless-israel-holds-to-a-ceasefire">UK to recognise state of Palestine in September unless Israel agrees ceasefire</a></p><p><strong>Priti Patel</strong>, the shadow foreign secretary, was doing a media round this morning. The Conservatives have been strongly critical of Keir Starmer’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood (unless Israel meets conditions which would be near impossible for Benjamin Netanyahu to accept) and Patel’s comments in part echoed what the Israeli government has been saying. (See <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/jul/30/keir-starmer-uk-palestine-statehood-gaza-uk-politics-latest-updates-news?page=with%3Ablock-6889ea218f08c49353804646#block-6889ea218f08c49353804646">10.50am</a>.) But the Tories are also claiming that this shows Starmer is too weak to stand up to his own MPs.</p><p>Patel told GB News:</p><p>We’ve just seen the government just really appease its back benches, saying that they will recognise Palestine, but do so without a plan, and that is why this is a very serious issue.</p><p>I think it’s a major problem for the British government and also for Britain’s standing in the world. We’ve seen this terrible situation of humanitarian crisis in Gaza for months upon months now, and Britain simply hasn’t been leveraging its influence.</p><p>Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism &amp; punishes its victims.</p><p>A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/jul/30/keir-starmer-uk-palestine-statehood-gaza-uk-politics-latest-updates-news">Continue reading...</a>