Attempts by Labour’s dominant faction to fix Conference may yet backfire, however.
“A motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap has been blocked from being discussed at Labour’s Annual Party Conference at the end of the month,” reports Left Foot Forward. “The motion, submitted by Open Labour, Compass and Momentum, was rejected by the Labour Conference Arrangements Committee.”
The CAC says that this is because it does not meet the required criteria, including covering “more than one subject” and “does not relate to a new issue not substantially covered in the NPF report.”
The organisations supporting the motion reject this and say the CAC has blocked the motion on tenuous procedural grounds. “Not allowing this motion to be debated is a senseless act,” they responded, adding that blocking the motion is “indicative of the hyper-factional culture at the top of the Labour Party that is stifling progress that will genuinely help people in need in Britain.”
The blocking of the motion by Labour’s CAC seems all the more absurd, given that the Government seems to be rethinking the issue. Partly to breathe new life into her flagging Deputy Leadership campaign, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday branded the controversial two child benefit cap as ”spiteful”. The apparent U-turn comes just months after several Labour MPs were suspended from the Party for voting for it to be scrapped. Some – including former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP – have yet to have the whip restored.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Labour Party officials are attempting to stifle debate on Palestine at the party conference and prevent calls for the Government to take meaningful steps to end complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) met yesterday and decided to rule out more than 30 motions submitted by constituency Labour Partys (CLPs) and affiliated organisations ahead of the party conference in Liverpool which begins on Sunday 28th September. Every motion on Palestine was ruled out of order by the CAC.
Contemporary motions at conference have to meet the criteria that the issue must not have been substantially addressed in the National Policy Framework (NPF) Annual Report 2025 which was published on 8th August. The overwhelming majority of Palestine motions were ruled out of order on the grounds that the motions do “not relate to a new issue not substantially covered in the NPF report”. This is despite the fact many focused on events that took place after the NPF Report was published. These include the announcement of the Israeli government’s plans to militarily occupy Gaza City on 8 August and the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City on 10 August.
The motions also make demands on the Labour Party that are not included in the NPF Report, such as an end to all arms trade and military cooperation with Israel, comprehensive sanctions, and a ban on trade that aides or assists Israel’s violations of international law.
The number of motions sent to conference demanding the party takes more action on Palestine has dramatically increased since last year, when just three motions were sent to conference. This ten-fold increase shows the growing level of anger at the grassroots at the leadership’s position. Recent polling has found that 72% of Labour’s 2024 voters want a full arms embargo on Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
‘Best way to deliver reform and a fair pay award is for government to negotiate directly with trade unions,’ RCN says
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FOURTEEN health unions today jointly announced they will not take part in the “failed” and “defunct” NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) process, demanding talks with ministers instead.
The independent advisory body has settled pay issues for the majority of the health service’s staff since 2007.
In a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, unions representing staff on “agenda for change” contracts called on the government to deliver on its promise of direct talks for next year’s pay instead.
Union frustrations over lengthy delays, below-inflation awards and suspected political interference come as questions linger over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership ahead of the party’s conference starting next week.
GMB had been the last major health union to engage with the PRB last year, which makes annual pay recommendations for NHS staff excluding doctors, dentists and some senior managers.
Chairwoman of the NHS unions and Unison’s head of health Helga Pile said: “The government promised talks over a year ago and they still haven’t got round the table with unions with any proper plan to sort things out.
Members of the Global Sumud Flotilla wave a Palestinian flag and make a peace symbol with their hands. (Photo by Global Sumud Flotilla)
One journalist said that it “feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past.”
After Hamas urged international support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday signaled another potential attack by claiming on social media that the peaceful humanitarian mission to feed starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “is a jihadist initiative serving the terror group’s agenda.”
While Israel has not taken responsibility for recent drone attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—the incidents have raised eyebrows, given the country’s history of attacking previous ones. The foreign ministers of 16 other nations on Tuesday implored Israel not to target this flotilla, which involves activists and political leaders from dozens of countries, including eight US veterans.
As Middle East Eye reported Thursday, Hamas—which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization despite its governance of Gaza—called for escalating the global movement in solidarity with the strip “in rejection of the [Israeli] occupation’s aggression, crimes of genocide, and starvation.”
“We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza, and we warn the occupation against targeting it,” Hamas also said in a statement, part of which was quoted in the Israeli ministry’s post on X.
Responding on the same platform, journalist Séamus Malekafzali said: “Past comments from the Israeli government about the aid flotillas focused on celebrity vapidity or didn’t mention their aim at all. Now, they’re honing in on it being a supposedly terrorist instrument. Feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past.”
Flotilla representatives and critics dismissed these claims as Israeli disinformation, echoing accusations leveled at prior missions, and called the report a case of “guilt by association,” reliant on photos and unverified affiliations rather than evidence of operational control.
Organizers emphasised transparent crowdfunding for aid, with no terror funding, and framed the convoy as a grassroots response to aid blockages.
Earlier this week, a commission of independent experts at the United Nations concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and an investigation from The New Humanitarianfound that Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian aid-seekers and wounded almost 20,000 others since October 2023. As of Thursday, the overall death toll has topped 65,000, though experts warn the true tally is likely far higher.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
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Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) holds a press conference in Berlin, Germany on October 16, 2024 [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Thursday that Gaza has become a battleground of a fierce and rampant information war.
Lazzarini stressed that, “Dis-information continues to be used as a tool to distract from the atrocities in the war-torn enclave
On the UNRWA official site, Lazzarini explained that “UNRWA was the first to be targeted, followed by other UN agencies, media outlets, and health institutions”.
He noted that the latest example was the denial of famine in Gaza and the disregard of the findings of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which concluded this week that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians.
According to Lazzarini, such denial aims at “undermining world experts’ assessments, analysis and at promoting narratives denying atrocities and dehumanizing Palestinians.”
Praising the resilience of reporters, he said: “Meanwhile, the heroic work of Palestinian journalists continues against all odds, as Israel’s military operations expand.”
Since 7 October 2023, Israeli forces, with direct support from the United States and other Western countries, have been waging a destructive war in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the territory, the offensive has so far killed and injured around 231,000 Palestinians.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
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