Labour conference opens with calls to boycott Israel

— Lorin Bell-Cross (@lorintbc) September 28, 2025

She claimed that her constituency had submitted a contemporary motion on the subject and requested that the party’s Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) put the motion back on the agenda and urged delegates to vote against the planned conference agenda if they did not.

A similar point was made by Councillor Patricia Quigley MBE from Hackney South and Shoreditch.

The delegate from the east London constituency had submitted a motion criticising “Britain arming Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza” and urged conference to reject the agenda unless it was restored.

After two other unrelated contributions, Sue Blackwell from Labour International, who rose to the stage donning a keffiyeh, said that a motion the group submitted about the BDS movement had been taken off the agenda and referred to the National Executive Committee, the party’s governing body, due to an “organisational matter”.

She said she suspected it was because the motion argued for “the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to be circulated to all our CLPs and members … The whole of Palestinian civil society is calling for BDS”, including a “two-way arms embargo on Israel as part of the sanctions to stop this genocide”.

Blackwell continued: “It is too important to be kicked into the long grass … we need to have a debate at conference this week” and urged delegates to reject the planned agenda were the motion not reinstated.

Responding to the points raised from delegates, Lynne Morris, chair of the CAC, said that party members would have an opportunity to discuss the conflict in Gaza through emergency motions that had been brought on the topic.

“There are a number of emergency motions on the Middle East and they will be discussed on the conference timetable”, she added.

However, when it came to Labour International’s motion, she confirmed that it had been referred to the NEC due to an “organisational matter” and urged Blackwell to see her at the conclusion of the discussion.

Despite the protests, the conference voted to accept the Conference Arrangement Committee’s report and to continue with the conference’s agenda as planned.

Last week, Sir Keir Starmer formally announced that the British government would recognise a Palestinian state.

However, several Labour senior Labour figures have used more robust language to criticise the Israel.

Dame Emily Thornberry and Sir Sadiq Khan have Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide”, in contrast to government’s longstanding position is that this is a matter for international courts.

Also last week, the JC revealed that that Scottish Labour would maintain an effective ban on holding meetings with Israeli government officials for as long as the conflict in Gaza continues.

Ahead of Labour’s annual conference, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign released a video of celebrities, including actor Steve Coogan and musician Paloma Faith, urging the government to say that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.